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■0' 



THE CONSTITUTIONS 

AND OTHER 

SELECT DOCUMENTS 

ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE 

HISTORY OF FRANCE 

1789-1907 

BY 

FRANK MALOY ANDERSON 

PROFESSOR OF HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA 



SECOND EDITION, 
REVISED AND ENLARGED 



MINNEAPOLIS 

Zbc lb. m. "Wrnison Company 

1908 



\ 



LsBRA.BY of CONGRESS 
Two Copies Sei^eived 






Copyright, 1908, by 
Frank Maloy Anderson 



TO 



PREFACE 

The practice of studying documients in connection with the 
history courses given in American universities, colleges, and 
high schools has now become so general, and the results at- 
tained so satisfactory, that the method no longer requires any 
defence. With the introduction of the system has come a new 
kind of manual, the document look. So many excellent books 
of this description have alreaoy appeared that the editor of 
still another may be reasonably expected to offer an adequate 
explanation for its publication. 

Three considerations have induced me to prepare this vol- 
ume. The first of these is personal and local. For several 
years past I have made a practice of dividing my class in 
modern European history into small sections which I could 
meet once each week around the seminary table. At these 
meetings we have studied together a considerable part of the 
documents here included, but the work has been hampered by 
the lack of a convenient collection of the documents. Fidelity 
to the interest of my pupils seemed to impose upon me the 
obligation to remove this difficulty. The second consider- 
ation lies in the attractiveness of the documents. After con- 
siderable experience in the use of various classes of documents 
upon European history I have reached the conclusion that stu- 
dents find the modern French documents more attractive than 
any others. Doubtless the chief reasons for this preference 
are that modern documents are more easily comprehended than 
those of more remote periods and that the style of the French 
is superior to that of English and German documents. Since 
documentary study must usually be confined to a small part 
of the field traversed by a class, I believe that for classes in 
modern European history the preference of the students may 
well be allowed to control the selection of the period to be 
studied. The third consideration is the importance of the field 
covered. The history of Fra.nce since the beginning of the 
revolution surely deserves a volume in English presenting as 
large a proportion as possible of the important documents. 

The task of selecting the documents for a book of this de- 
scription is a difficult one. It may be safely asserted that no 
two persons would make the same selections, however well 



S'(fi 



vi PREFACE 

agreed they might be upon the general principles of choice. 
My first and foremost aim has been to pick out those docu- 
ments likely to be serviceable to teachers. I have especially 
striven to avoid the error of a too rigid application of some 
definition of the term document or of some classification. The 
special reason for the inclusion of most of the documents will 
be found at least hinted at in the introductions. The more 
general principles which I have applied require some explana- 
tion. There appear to be at least five important ways in 
which a document-book may be profitably used in the teaching 
of history, (i) Much historical data can be acquired through 
such study. It must be admitted, however, that the same 
amount of time spent upon a good text-book will in this par- 
ticular usually produce better results, for the reason that the 
documents studied are so few in number and so disconnected 
that no adequate idea of any considerable period is obtained. 
The defect can be remedied in large measure by using a single 
class of documents running through a considerable period. In 
modern French history the constitutions serve the purpose 
admirably. For this reason all of these are included and no 
elisions have been made, excepting two or three tabular lists 
of territorial divisions. (2) Documents may be used as the 
basis for oral or written reports; usually the work should be 
done in connection with secondary accounts, but the proofs 
for the principal statements should be drawn from the docu- 
ments. Many of the groups, with their accompanying refer- 
ences, are inserted for this purpose. It should be observed 
that these groups usually contain the materials out of which 
the student should be able to deduce some quite definite result, 
such as the evolution of a policy or of an institution or the 
manner in which an institution operated. (3) In the opinion 
of many teachers the greatest value to be derived from the 
study of documents is a certain familiarity with the methods 
of historical investigation. I believe that a large number of 
the documents here given present unusually good opportunities 
for exercises designed with that intent. (4) The meaning of 
technical terms and the significance of constantly recurring al- 
lusions can often be more satisfactorily explained in connection 
with a document than by any other method. None of the 
selections have been made principally for this reason, but with 
quite a number it has been an important factor. (5) With 
many instructors the use of original sources in the teaching of 
history is valued chiefly for its vitalizing effect. For this 



PREFACE vii 

purpose documents are perhaps less effective than contem- 
porary narratives. Yet there are many exceptions. Several 
of the documents .not otherwise of the highest worth have 
been included for their value in this particular. 

Most of the documents in this collection will serve several 
of these purposes, but the superior value of a document for 
but one of these is often the decisive reason for its inclusion. 

The brevity of the introductions has made it necessary 
that I should confine myself to pointing out only a very few 
of the ways in which the documents are of interest. In some 
cases I regret that the plan has not made possible more ex- 
tended comment, but in general I believe that as much has 
been furnished the student as he can profitably receive. He 
needs to be started, but he should not be told all of the 
thing's to be obtained from the document. In the furnishing 
of data I have tried to supply such information as is indis- 
pensable for the understanding of the document, provided it 
is not to be found in the document itself. The references 
have been purposely confined to a limited number of well 
known works, all of which are in English or in French. By 
this method I believe that all students who use the book may 
be induced to become quite familiar with nearly all of the 
works in English and, if they read any French, with the few 
French works cited. To have given more, I fear, would have 
defeated this purpose. 

I am greatly indebted to Mrs. Helen Dresser Fling, to the 
editors of the Annals of the American Academy of Political 
and Social Science, and to the editors of that admirable series 
issued by the history department of the University of Penn- 
sylvania, Translation and Reprints from the Original Sources 
of European History, for permission to employ their excellent 
translation wherever I have had occasion to use a document 
that has already appeared in their publications. In using 
these translations, as well as a number of others from non- 
copyrighted sources, I have made separate acknowledgment 
in every instance and have reproduced them exactly as print- 
ed, excepting some slight typographical errors and a few 
changes kindly supplied by Mrs. Fling. In my own trans- 
lations I have striven to be as literal as possible, having a 
decent regard for the idioms of the English language. Prob- 
ably I have been more literal than was absolutely requisite, 
but I have believed that the translator of documents should 



viii PREFACE 

err upon the side of literary form rather than meaning. In 
the matter of paragraphing I have invariably followed the 
form of the document as originally printed in French, even 
when a single sentence is made to run into a dozen para- 
graphs. As to other features of form, such as punctuation 
and capitals,, I have been guided by two canons — tO' treat each 
document separately so as to produce the best result for that 
particular document, and to follow the originals as closely 
as English usage would allow. 

It is a pleasure to acknowledge help received from several 
friends in addition to those already mentioned. Professor 
Willis Mason West, my colleague and chief, has generously 
responded to my frequent appeals for advice. Profesor Fred 
Morrow Fling of the University of Nebraska kindly looked 
over the list of materials and made several helpful sugges- 
tions. I am under great obligation to my publishers for per- 
mission to make the volume considerably larger than stipu- 
lated in our agreement. Most of all I am indebted to my 
wife, Mary Steele Anderson. To her constant encouragement, 
literary criticisms, and assistance with the manuscript and 
proofs, I owe a large part of whatever value the volume may 
possess. 

Frank Maloy Anderson. 
University of Minnesota. 

April 30, 1904. 

Both the material and the arrangement of this edition cor- 
respond closely to the original publication. Several docu- 
ments of a later date than 1902 have been added and a few 
changes have been made in a number of the groups of docu- 
ments relating to some single topic. The principal difference 
between this and the original edition is in details. All of the 
translations have been gone over carefully and numerous 
changes made, especially in the second half of the book. 
Quite a number of additional references have been inserted. 
As several widely-used text-books .have inserted references to 
documents contained in the collection I have endeavored to 
preserve the original pagination as far as possible. Almost 
invariably a reference to the first edition will be found on the 
corresponding or the next page of this edition. 

September 2, 1908. F. M. A. 



CONTENTS 

NUMBER PAGE 

Xii. Decree Creating the National Assembly. June 

\ 17, 1789 I 

^ 2. The Tennis Court Oath. June 20, 1789. . . 2 

3. Documents upon the Royal Session of June 23, 

1789 3 

A. Declaration of the King upon the States- 
General. ...... 3 

•B. Declaration of the Intentions of the King. 5 

'C. Decree of the Assembly. .... 10 

4. The Fourth of August Decrees. August 4-11, 

1789 II 

^ 5. Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen 

August 27, 1789 IS 

6. Documents upon the Constituent Assembly and 

the Church. ...... 15 

A. Decree upon the Church Lands. November 

2, 1789. IS 

B. Decree upon Monastic Vows. February 13, 

- 1790- • • • • • ■ ■ i5 

^-' C. The Civil Constitution of the Clergy. July 

12, 1790. ...... 16 

D. Decree upon the Clerical Oath. Novembei 

27, 1790. ..... 22 

E. Decree upon the Publication of Papal Docu- 
ments. June 9, 1791. .... 23 

Decrees for Reorganizing the Local Government 
System. . . . . . . . 24 

A. Decree upon the Municipalities. December 

14. 1789- 24 

B. Decree upon the Departments and Districts. 

December 22, 17S9. .... 29 

8. Decree for Abolishing the Nobility. June 19, 

1790. . ■ . ZZ 

^^ 9. Decree for Reorganizing the Judicial System. 

August 16, 1790 34 



X CONTENTS 

NUMBEK PAGE 

^'"^^ lo. Circular Letter of Louis XVI to Foreign Courts. 

April 23, 1791 39 

11. Decree upon the Organization of Trades and 

Professions. June 14, 1791. ... 43 

12. Documents upon the King's Flight. ... 45 

A. The King's Declaration. June 20. 1791. . 45 

B. Decree for the Arrest of the King. June 

21, 1791. 50 

C. Decree for the Maintenance of Public Order. 

June 21, 1791. ..... 50 

D. Decree for Giving Effect to the Measures of 

the Assembly. June 21, 1791. . . 51 

E. Decree in regard to Foreign Affairs. June 

21, 1791. 52 

F. Decree for Calling out the National Guards. 

June 21, 1791. .... 52 

^ G. Decree upon the Oath of Allegiance. June 

22, 1791. ...... 52 

H. Decree upon the Commissioners from the 

Assembly. June 24, 1791. • • . 53 

L Decree concerning the King. June 24, 1791. 53 

J. The Protest of the Right. June 29, 1791. . 54 

K. Decree concerning the King. July 16, 1791. 54 

13. The Padua Circular. July 5 or 6, 1791. . . 55 

14. The Declaration of Pilnitz. August 27, 1791. . 57 
^-;yji5. The Constitution of 1791. September 3, 1791. . 58 

16. The King's Acceptance of the Constitution. Sep- 

tember 13, 1791. ...... 96 

17. Ihe Rejected Decrees. ..... 97 

A. Decree upon the fimigres. November 9, 1791. 97 

B. Decree upon the Non-juring Clergy. No- 

vember 29, 1 791. . . . . . 99 

18. Letter of Louis XVI to the King of Prussia. 

December 3, 1791. 102 

19. Declaration of War against Austria. April 20, 

1792 103 

20. The Three Revolutionary Decrees. " . . . 104 
A. Decree for the Deportation of the Non-jur- 
ing Priests. May 27, 1792. ... 104 



CONTENTS xi 

NUMBER PAGE 

B. Decree for Disbanding the King's Body 

Guard. May 29, 1792 106 

C. Decree for Establishing a Camp of Federes. 

June 8, 1792. ..... 106 

21. The Petition of the 20th of June. June 20, 1792. 107 

22. Addresses to the Legislative Assembly. . . no 

A. Address of the Commune of Marseilles. 

June zj, 1792. . . . . . Ill 

B. Address of the Federes at Paris. July 23, 

1792 113 

C. Address of the Paris Sections. August 3, 

1792. 114 

23. The Duke of Brunswick's Manifesto. July 25, 

1792. . . . ..... 118 

24. Decree for Suspending the King. August 10, 

1792 123 

25. Decree for Electing the Convention. August 11, 

1792 125 

26. The Jacobin Club Address. September 12, 1792. 127 

27. Documents upon the Transition to the Republic. 128 

A. Declaration upon the Constitution. Septem- 

ber 21, 1792. T28 

B. Decree for Provisional Enforcement of the 

Laws. September 21, 1792. . . . 129 

C. Decree for Abolishing the Monarchy. Sep- 

tember 21, 1792. . . . . . 129 

D. Decree upon the Dating of Public Docu- 

ments. September 22, 1792. . . . 129 

E. Decree upon the Unity and Indivisibility of 

the Republic. September 25, 1792. . 129 

28. Documents upon the Convention and Foreign 

Policy. 129 

A. Declaration for Assistance and Fraternity to 

Foreign Peoples. November 19, 1792. . 130 

B. Decree for Proclaiming the Liberty and Sov- 

ereignty of all Peoples. December 15, 1792. 130 

C. Decree upon Non-intervention. April 13, 

^793 133 

29. Documents upon the Convention and Religion. 134 
A. Decree upon Religious Policy. January 

II, 1793 134 



xii CONTENTS 

NUMBER PAGE 

B. Decree upon the Non-juring Priests. April 

23, 1793 13s 

C. Decree upon Dangerous Priests. October 

20-21, 1793. 13s 

D. Decree upon Religious Freedom. December 

8, 1793 137 

E. Decree for Establishing the Worship of the 

Supreme Being. May 7, 1794. . . 137 

F. Decree upon Expenditures for Religion. 

September 18, 1794. .... 139 

G. Decree upon Religion. February 21, 1795. . 139 
H. Decree for Restoring Church Buildings. 

May 30, 1795 140 

I. Organic Act upon Religion. September 29, 

1795 ■ ... 140 

30. Documents upon the fimigres. . . . 145 

A. Declaration of the Regent of France. Jan- 

uary 28, 1793 145 

B. Decree against the Emigres. March 28, 1793. 147 

31 . Declaration of War against Great Britain. Feb- 

ruary I, 1793. ...... 148 

32. Documents upon the Revolutionary Tribunal of 

Paris. ........ 152 

A. Decree for Creating an Extraordianry Crim- 

inal Tribunal. March 10, 1793. . . 152 

B. Law of 22 Prairial. June 10, 1794. . . 154 

33. Decree for Establishing the Revolutionary Com- 

mittees. March 21, 1793. .... 158 

34. Decree upon the Press. March 29, 1793. . . 158 

35. Decree for Establishing the Committee of Pub- 

lic Safety. April 6, r7g3. .... 159 

36. Robespierre's Proposed Declaration of Rights. 

April 24, 1793. •. 160 

37. Decree upon the Deputies on Mission. April 30, 

1793 164 

38. Documents upon the Convention and Education. 167 

A. Decree upo.n Primary Education. May 30, 

^793 168 

B. Decree upon Secondary Education. February 

25, 1795 '168 



CONTENTS 



40. 
41. 

42. 
43- 

44- 

^45- 

46. 

47- 
48. 



49. 

•^50. 

51. 



K 



52. 



5o- 

54- 
55- 
56. 
57- 
S8. 

59- 

60. 

61. 

62. 
63. 
64. 



C. Organic Act upon Education. October 25, 

1795 

Constitution of the Year I. June 24, 1793. 

Decree for the Levy en Masse. August 23, 1793 

The Law of Suspects. September 17, 1793. 

Law of the Maximum. September 29, 1793. 

Decree upon the Revolutionary Government 
October 10, 1793. .... 

Decree for the Republican Calendar. Novem- 
ber 24, 1793. 

Organic Decree upon the Government of th( 
Terror. December 4, 1793. 

Decree upon Slavery. February 4, 1794. . 

Decree upon Assignats. May 10, 1794. 

Treaties with Prussia. .... 

A. Treaty of Basle. April 5, 1795. 

B. Secret Convention, August 5, 1796. . 
Treaty of the Hague. May 16, 1795. 
Constitution of the Year IIL August 22, 1795. 
Law against Public Enemies. April 16, 1796. 
Treaties with the Pope. .... 

A. Suspension of Hostilities. June 23, 1796. 

B. Treaty of Tolentino. February 19, 1797. 
Law upon British Products. October 31, 1796. 
Secret Convention with Genoa. June 5-6, 1797 
Treaty of Campo Formio. October 17, 1797. 
Law of Hostag'es. July 12, 1709. 

The Brumaire Decree. November 10, 1799. 
Constitution of the Year VTH. December i 

1799- ■ ■ ■ 

Order for Suppressing the Newspapers. January 

17, 1800. 

Law for Reorganizing the Administrative Sys 

tem. February 17, 1800. 
Law for Reorganizing the Judicial System. March 

18, 1800 

Treaty of Luneville. February 9, 1801. 
Treaty of Amiens. March 27, 1802. 
Documents upon Napoleon and the Reorganiza 

tion of Religion. ..... 



170 
171 
184 
185 
187 

189 

191 

194 
204 
205 
206 
206 
208 
209 
212 
254 
255 
25.5 
256 
258 

259 
261 

267 
268 

270 

281 

283 

288 
290 
294 

p.g6 



CONTENTS 



NUMBEE 



L/ 



PAGE 



A. The Concordat. July 15, 1801— April 8, 1802 296 

B. Organic Articles for the Catholic Church. 

April 8, 1802 299 

C. The Declaration of 1682 304 

D. Organic Articles for the Protestant Sects. 

April 8, 1802 306 

65. Documents upon Napoleon and Education. . 308 

A. Law upon Public Instruction. May i, 1802 308 

B. Imperial Catechism. April 4, 1807. . . 312 

C. Decree for Organizing the Imperial Univer- 

sity. March I7. J 808 3^4 

66. Documents upon the Consulate for Life. . . 323 

A. Declaration of the Tribunate. May 6, 1802. 323 

B. Re-election by the Senate. May 8, 1802 . 324 

C. Message of the First Consul to the Senate. 

May 9, 1802. 325 

D. Order of the Consuls. May 10, 1802 . 326 

E. 'Senatus-Consultum. (Constitution of the 

Year X.) August 4, 1802. . . . 326 
^^7. Law for Organizing the Legion of Honor. May 

19, 1802. ...... 336 

68. Law for Re-establishing Slavery in the French 

Colonies. May 20, 1802. .... 338 

69. Declaration of France upon the Reorganization 

of Germany. August 18, 1802. . . . 339 

70. Treaty with Spain. October 19, 1803. • • 341 

71 . Constitution of the Year XII. May 18, 1804. . 342 

72. Documents upon the Kingdom of Italy. . 368 

A. Constitutional Statute. March 17, 1805. . 368 

B. Proclamation of the Kingdom. March 19, 

J[8o5 369 

7Z- Treaty of Alliance between Great Britain and 

Russia. April 11, 1805. .... 371 

74. Treaty of Pressburg. December 26, 1805. . 374 

75. Documents upon Napoleon and the Kingdom of 

Naples. ....... 378 

A. Proclamation to the Army. December 30, 

1805 .378 

B. Imperial Decree making Joseph Bonaparte 

King of Naples. March 30, 1806. . . 379 



CONTENTS XV 

NUMBER ^^^^ 

76. Treaty between France and Holland. May 24, 

1806. 381 

77. Documents upon the Continental System. . 383 

A. British Note to the Neutral Powers. May 

16, 1806 384 

B. The Berlin Decree. November 21, 1806. . 385 

C. British Order in Council. January 10, 1807. 3^7 

D. British Order in Council. November 11, 

1807 388 

E. The Milan Decree. December 17, 1807. . 392 
W. British Order in Council. April 26, 1809. . 394 
G. The Rambouillet Decree. March 23, 1810 . 396 

78. Documents upon the Dissolution of the Holy 

Roman Empire. ...... 397 

A. Treaty for Establishing the Confederation 

of the Rhine. July 12, 1806. . . 398 

B. Note of Napoleon to the Diet. August i, 

1806 399 

C. Declaration of the Confederated States. 

August I, 1806 401 

D. Abdication of Francis H. August 7, 1806. 403 

79. Documents upon the Peace of Tilsit. . . 404 

A. Treaty of Peace between France and Russia. 

July 7, 1807 40s 

B. Secret Treaty of Alliance between France 

and Russia. July 7, 1807. . . . 408 

C. Treaty of Peace between France and Prussia. 

July 9, 1807. ..... 410 

D. Treaty between France and Prussia. Sep- 

tember 8, 1808. 4x4 

80. Senatus-Consultum for Suppressing the Tribu- 

nate. August 19, 1807. .... 416 

81. Documents upon the Overthrow of the Spanish 

Monarchy. ....... 418 

A. Convention of Fontainebleau. October 27, 

1807. 418 

B. Convention with Charles IV. May 5, 1808. 419 

C. Imperial Decree Proclaiming Joseph Bona- 

parte King of Spain. June 6, 1808. . . 420 

82. The Erfurt Convention. October 12, 1808. . 421 



CONTENTS 



8S. 
86. 

87. 
88. 



90. 



NUMBEE PAGE 

Ss. Decree upon the Term, French Republic. Octo- 
ber 22, 1808 4^4 

84. Documents upon the Annexations of 1809-1810. 424 
\A. Imperial Decree for the Annexation of the 

Papal States. May 17, 1809. ... 425 

B. Organic Senatus-Consultum for the Annex- ^ 
ation of the Papal States. February 17, 
1810 426 

C. Treaty with Holland. March 16, 1810. . 427 

D. Organic Senatus-Consultum for the Annex- 
ation of Holland and North Germany. De- 
cember 13, 18x0. ..... 429 

Treaty of Vienna. October 14, 1809. . . 430 
Decree upon Printing and Bookselling. Febru- 
ary 5, 1810. 433 

The Frankfort Declaration. December i, 1813. 435 
Address of the Legislative Body ^ to Napoleon. 

December 28, 1813 437 

Treaty of Chaumont. March i, 1814. . . 439 
Documents upon the Transition to the Restor- 
ation Monarchy. . . . ... . 443 

A. Proclam.ation of the Allies. March 31, 1814. 443 

B. Act of the Senate. April i, 1814. . . 444 
Decree for Deposing Napoleon. April 3-4, 

1814 444 

First Abdication of Napoleon. April 4, 1814. 446 
The Senate's Proposed Constitution. April 

6, 1814 446 

Second Abdication of Napoleon. April 11, 

1814 450 

Treaty of Fontainebleau. April 11, 1814. . 450 
Treaty of Paris.' May 30, 1814. . . . 451 
Declaration of St. Ouen. May 2, 1814. . . 455 
V 93- Constitutional Charter of 1814. June 4, 1814. . 457 
Proclamation of Napoleon. March i, 1815. . 465 
Decree for Convoking an Extraordinary As- 
sembly. March 13, 1815. .... 467 
Declaration of the Powers against Napoleon. 

March 13, 1815 468 

Treaty of Alliance against Napoleon. March 25, 

1815 469 



C. 

D. 
E. 



G. 



91- 
92. 

93- 
94- 
95- 

96. 
97- 



CONTE.NTS 



g8. The Act Additional. April 22, 1815. . . 472 

■^ 99. Treaty of Paris. November 20, 1815. . . 480 

ICO. Treaty of Alliance against France. November 

20, 1815. 482 

loi. Press Laws and Ordinances of the Restoration. 485 

A. Lav^r upon the Press. June 9, 1819. . . 485 

B. Law upon the Press. March 31, 1820. . 486 

C. Law upon the Press. March 17, 1822. . 488 

D. Royal Ordinance upon the Press. June 24, 

1827 4S9 

102. Circular of the Keeper of the Seals. About Feb- 

ruary I, 1824 489 

103. Documents upon the Dissolution of 1830. . 491 

A. The King's Speech. March 2, 1830. . . 49i 

B. Reply of the Chamber of Deputies. March 

18, 1830. 49^ 

C. Response of the King. March 18, 1830. . 493 

D. Proclamation of the King. June 13,- 1830. 494 

104. Documents upon the July Revolution. . . 495 

A. The July Ordinances. July 25, 1830. . 495 \/ 

B. Protest of the Paris Journalists. July 26, 

1830 501 

C. Protest of the Paris Deputies. July 26, 1830. 501 

D. Thiers' Orleanist Manifesto. July 30, 1830. 502 

E. Proclamation of the Deputies. July 31, 1830. 502 

F. Proclamation by Louis Philippe. August i, 

1830. . 503 

G. Abdication of Charles X. August 2, 1830. 504 
H. Declaration of the Chamber of Deputies. 

August 7, 1830 505 

/fos. Constitution of 1830. August 14, 1830 . • 507 U 

106. Law upon Elections. April 19, 183 1. 513 

107. Proclamations and Decrees of the Provisional 

Government of 1848. . . . . • 5I4 . 

A. Proclamation of the Overthrow of the July 

Monarchy. February 24, 1848. . . SU 

B. Declaration Relative to Workingmen. Feb- 

ruary 25, 1848. 515 • 

C. Proclamation of the Republic. February 26, 

1848 516 



1/ 



xviii CONTENTS 

NUMBER PAGH 

D. Decree for Estabishing National Work- 

shops. February 26, 1848. . . . 517 

E. Proclamation a.nd Order for the Luxem- 

bourg Commission. February 28, 1848. . 5^7 

F. Decree for Abolishing Titles of Nobility. 

February 29, 1848. ..... 518 

G. Decree upon Labor. March 2, 1848. . . 518 
H. Decree for the National Assembly. March 

5, 1848. 519 

L Decree upon Slavery. April 27, 1848. . 520 

108. Petition of the i6th of April. April 16, 1848. 521 

109. Declaration upon the Republic. May 4, 1848. . 522 
no. Constitution of 1848. November 4, 1848. . . 522 

111. Documents upon the Coup d'Etat of December 

2, 1851 538 

A. Decree for Dissolving the National As- 

sembly. December 2, 1851. . . . 538 

B. Proclamation to the People. December 2, 

1851 538 

C. Proclamation to the Army. December 2, 

1851 540 

D. First Decree for the Plebiscite. December 

2, 1851 541 

E. Second Decree for the Plebiscite. December 

4, 1851 542 

F. Election Appeal. December 8, 1851. . . 542 

112. Constitution of 1852. January 14, 1852. . . 543 

113. Documents upon Louis Napoleon and the Press. 549 

A. Decree upon the Press. February 17, 1852. 549 

B. Law upon the Press. May 11, 1868. . 552 

114. Documents upon the Evolution of the Second 

Empire. ....... 554 

A. Speech of the Prince-President to the Cham- 

bers. March 29, 1852 554 

B. Address of the Municipality of Vedennes to 

Louis-Napoleon. October, 1852. 

C. The Bordeaux Address. October 9. 18. 

D. Senatus-consultum upon the Empire. 

vember 7, 1852. .... 

115. Documents upon the Congress of Paris. . 

A. Treaty of Paris. March 30, 1856. 





557 




558 


No- 






560 




562 




562 



CONTENTS xix 

NUMBER PAGJ3 

B. The Dardanelles Convention. March 26, 

1856 565 

C. Declaration Respecting Maritime Power. 

April 16, 1856 566 

116. Documents upon the Italian War of 1859. • S67 

A. The Austrian Ultimatum. April 19, 1859. . 567 

B. Reply of Sardinia. April 26, 1859. . . 569 

C. Proclamation of Napoleon III, May 3, 1859. 569 

D. Proclamation to the Italians. June 8, 1859. 57^ 

E. Peace Preliminaries of Villafranca. July 11, 

1859 572 

F. Treaty of Zurich. November 10, 1859. • 573 

G. Treaty of Turin. March 24, i860. . . 574 

117. Documents upon the Evolution of the Liberal 

Empire. • • 575 

A. Decree of the 24th of November. November 

24, i860. . . . . . . 575 

B. Senatus-Consultum upon the Publication 

of Debates, February 2, 1861. . . . 577 

C. Senatus-Consultum upon the Budget. De- 

cember 31, 1861 577 

D. Imperial Decree upon Interpellation. Janu- 

ary 19. 1867. 578 

E. Senatus-Consultum. September 8, 1869. . 579 

F. Senatus-Consultum. May 21, 1870. . . 580 

118. The Persigny Circular. May 8, 1863. . . 586 

119. Law upon Public Meetings. June 6, 1868. . 589 

120. The Proposed Benedetti Treaty. August 20, 

1866 .591 

121. The Ems Despatch. July 13, 1870. . . . 592 

122. Documents upon the Fourth of September. . 594 

A. Proclamation to the French People. Sep- 

tember 4, 1870 594 

B. Proclamation to the Inhabitants of Paris, 

September 4, 1870. ..... 595 

C. Proclamation to the National Guard. Sep- 

tember 4, 1870. . . . . . 595 

D. Decree upon the Legislative Body and the 

Senate. September 4, 1870. ... 596 



XX CONTENTS 

NUMBER PAGE 

E. Decree upon Political and Press Offenders. 

September 4, 1870 ' . 596 

123. Diplomatic Circulars upon the Franco-Prussian 

War 596 

A. Circular to French Ministers. September 

6, 1870 596 

B. Circular to Prussian Ministers. Septem- 

ber 13, 1870 599 

C. Circular to Prussian Ministers. September 

16, 1870. 601 

124. Decrees and Laws upon ' the Executive Power,' 

1871-1873 604 

A. Decree Appointmg Thiers. February 17, 

1871 604 

B. The Rivet Law. August 31, 1871. . . 604 

C. Law upon the Presidency. March 13, 1873. 606 

125. Preliminary Treaty of Versailles. February 26, 

1871 607 

126. Declaration of the Paris Commune. April 19, 

1871 608 

127. Laws for Reorganizing Local Government. . 612 

A. Communal Law. April 14, 1871. . . 612 

B. Departmental Law. August 10, 1871. . 613 

128. Law for Reorganizing the Army. July 27, 1872. 618 

129. Documents upon the Overthrow of Thiers. . 622 

A. The De Broglie Literpellation. May 19, 

1873. .622 

B. The Government Proposals. May 19, 1873. 622 

C. The Ernoul Order of the Day. May 24, 

1S73. 626 

D. The Target Declaration. May 24, 1873. • ^'^7 

E. Manifesto -of the Extreme Left. May 24, 

1873- • 627 

130. The White Flag Letter. October 27, 1873. • 627 

131. Law of the Septennate. November 20, 1873. . 630 

132. Documents upon the Establishment of the Re- 

public. . ....... 631 

A. The Casimir-Perier Proposal. June 15, 

1874 631 

B. The Ventavon Proposal. July 15, 1874. , 632 



CONTENTS 



C. The Proposed Laboulaye Amendment. 

January 28, 1875 633 

D. The Wallon Amendment. January 30, 1875. 633 

133. The Constitution of 1875 and Amendments. . 633 

A. Law upon the Organization of the Senate. 

February 24, 1875. ... . . . 633 

B. Law upon the Organization of the Pubhc 

Powers. February 25, 1875. • • • 635 

C. Law upon the Relation of the Public Pow- 

ers. July 16, 1875. .... 637 

D. Amendment upon the Seat of Government. 

June 21, 187.9. ..... 639 

E. The Amendments of 1884. August 14, 

1884 639 

134. Documents upon the i6thi of May Crisis. . 640 

A. Letter of MacMahon to Simon. May 16, 

1877. 641 

B. Letter of Simon to MacMahon. May 16, 

1877 641 

C. Order of the Day. May 17, 1877. . . 642 

D. Manifesto of the Left. About May 20, 

1877. 643 

E. MacMahon's Manifesto to the French People. 

September 19, 1877 644 

F. Gambetta's Circular. October 7, 1877. • 646 

G. MacMahon's Second Manifesto. October 

II, 1877. 648 

H. MacMahon's Message. December 14, 1877. 649 

135. Documents upon Socialism and the Third Re- 

public. 650 

A. General Program, of the Socialist Regional 

Congress of the Centre. July 18-23, 1880. 650 

B. Common Declaration of the Socialist Or- 

ganizations. January 13, 1905. . ". 653 

136. Documents upon Leo XIII and the Third Re- 

public. 654 

A. Papal Encyclical. February 16, 1892. . 655 

B. Papal Brief to the French Cardinals. May 

S, 1892. . -. 656 

137. The Law of Associations. July i, 1901. . . 659 



CONTENTS 



138. Documents upon the Separation of Church and 

State 662 

A. The Law of Separation. December 9, 1905. 663 

B. Papal Encychcal. February 11, 1906. . 670 

C. Petition of the Twenty-Three. March, 1906. 676 

D. Law for the Public Exercise of Religious 

Worship. January 2, 1907. . . . 678 

E. Papal Encyclical. January 6, 1907. . . 680 



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Constitutions and Documents 

Illustrative of the 

History of France 



1. Decree upon the National Assembly. 

June 17, 1789. Duvergier, Lois, I, 23. 

The States-General met May 5, 1789. It contained approxi- 
mately twelve hundred members — three hundred nobles, three hun- 
dred clergy, six hundred deputies of the Third Estate. As Louis 
XVI had failed to provide regulations respecting its organization 
and method of voting, a controversy immediately developed over 
these questions. The nobles and clergy desired separate organi- 
zation and vote by order ; the Third Estate demanded a single or- 
ganization and vote by head. This decree was finally adopted by 
the Third Estate alone, after an invitation to the other two orders 
had met with no general response. The document indicates the 
method by which the Third Estate proposed to proceed, the ai'gu- 
ments by which the method was justified, and the general temper 
which characterized the proceedings. 

References. Mathews, French Revolution, 119-120 ; Gardiner, 
Frencli Revolution, o7-39 ; Stephens, French Revolution, I, 58-62 ; 
Von Sybel, French Revolution. I, 54-65 : Gamhridge modern His- 
tory, VIII, 153-154 ; Aulard, Revolution frangaise, 32-34 ; Lavisse 
and Rambaud, Ilistoire generate, VIII, 56-59 ; Jaures, Histoire so- 
cialiste, I, 244. 

The Assembly, deliberating after the verification of its cre- 
dentials, recognizes that this assembly is already composed of 
the representatives sent directly by at least ninety-six per cent 
of the nation. 

Such a body of deputies cannot remain inactive owing to 
the absence of the deputies of some bailhages and some classes 
of citizens ; for the absentees, who have been summoned, can- 
not prevent those present from exercising the full extent of 
their rights, especially when the exercise of these rights is an 
imperious and pressing duty. 



2 The Tennis Court Oath 

Furthermore, since it belongs only to the verified represen- 
tatives to participate in the formation of the national opinion, 
and since all the verified representatives ought to be in this as- 
sem,bly, it is still more indispensable to conclude that the in- 
terpretation and presentation of the general will of the nation 
belong to it, and belong to it alone, and that there cannot exist 
between the throne and this assembly any veto, any negative 
power. — The assembly declares then that the common task of 
the national restoration can and ought to be commenced with- 
out delay by the deputies present and that they ought to pur- 
sue it without interruption as well as without hindrance. — The 
denomination of National Assembly is the only one which is 
suitable for the Assembly in the present condition of things ; 
because the members who compose it are the only representa- 
tives lawfully and publicly known and verified ; because they 
are sent directly by almost the totality of the nation; because, 
lastly, the representation being one and indivisible, none of the 
deputies, in whatever class or order he may be chosen, has the 
right to exercise his functions apart from the present assem- 
bly. — The Assembly will never lose the hope of uniting within 
its own body all the deputies absent today; it will not cease to 
summon them to fulfil the obligation laid upon them to par- 
ticipate in the holding of the States-General. At any moment 
when the absent deputies present themselves in the course of 
the session which is about to open, it declares in advance that 
it will hasten to receive them and to share with them, after 
the verification of their credentials, the remainder of the great 
labors whicli are bound to effect the regeneration of France. — 
The National Assembly orders that the motives of the present 
decision be immediately drawn up in order to be presented to 
the kine and the nation. 



2. The Tennis Court Oath. 



June 20, 1789. Duvergier, Lois, I, 24. 

When the' deputies of the Third Estate went to their hall on 
June 20, 1789, they found it closed to them and placards posted 
announcing a royal session two days later. Fearing that this 
foreshadowed a command from the king for separate organization 
and vote by order, they met in a neighboring tennis court and 
with practical unanimity formulated the resolution embodied In 
this document. 



The Royal Session 3 

References. James Harvey Robinson, Political Science Quar- 
terly, X, 460-474 ; Von Sybel, French Revolution, I, 65-66 ; Cam- 
hriiiye Modern History. VIII, 155-156 ; Jaurfes, Histoire socialiste, 
I, 246. 

The National Assembly, considering that it has been sum- 
moned to determine the constitution of the kingdom, to effect 
the regeneration of public order, and to maintain the true prin- 
ciples of the monarchy; that nothing can prevent it from con- 
tinuing its deliberations in whatever place it may be forced to 
establish itself, and lastly, that wherever its members meet to- 
gether, there is the National Assembly. 

Decrees that all the members of this assembly shall im- 
mediately take a solemn oath never to separate, and to reas- 
semble wherever circumstances shall require, until the consti- 
tution of the kingdom shall be established and consolidated 
upon firm foundations ; and that, the said oath being taken, all 
the members and each of them individually shall ratify by their 
signatures this steadfast resolution. 



3. Documents upon the Royal Session of June 
23, 1789. 

These documents show the parts played by the King and the 
Third Estate at the royal session of June 23, 1789. Document A 
is a command, although expressed as a wish. Document B has 
a special interest since it indicates approximately how far Louis 
XVI was ready to go in the way of reform. Mirabeau's famous 
defiance of the royal usher was an important factor in nerving the 
Third Estate to take the action embodied in document C. 

Referexces. Fling's Source Studies, The Royal Session con- 
tains other intei'esting documents, bearing upon this event. See 
also Mathews, French Revolution, 123-124; Stephens, French 
Revolution, I, 62-63 ; Von Sybel, French Revolution. I, 66-69 ; 
CamhrUlfje Modern History. VIII, 156-159 ; Jaur6s, Histoire social- 
iste, I, 247-253. 

A. Declaration of the King upon the States-General. 
June 23, 1789. Duvergier, Lois, I, 24-25. Translation, Mrs. 
Fred M. Fling, Fling's Source Studies, The Royal Sesst07t, 

33-36. 

I. The King wishes that the ancient distinction of the 
three orders of the state be preserved in its entirety, as es- 
sentially linked to the constitution of his kingdom ; that the 
deputies, freely elected by each of the three orders, forming 



4 The Royal Session 

three chambers, deliberating by order, and being able, with 
the approval of the sovereign, to agree to deliberate in com- 
mon, can alone be considered as forming the body of the 
representatives of the nation. As a result, the king has de- 
clared null the resolutions passed by the deputies of the order 
of the Third Estate, the 17th of this month, as well as those 
which have followed them, as illegal and unconstitutional. 

2. His Majesty declares valid all the credentials verified 
or to be verified in each chamber, upon which there has not 
been raised nor will be raised any contest; His Majesty or- 
ders that these shall be communicated by each order respec- 
tively to the other twoi orders. 

As for the credentials which might be contested in each 
order, and upon which the parties interested would appeal, 
it will be enacted, for the present session only of the States- 
General, as will be hereafter ordered. 

[Articles three to six set aside the instructions given to 
members in regard to their action upon the organization of 
the States-General and announced that imperative instructions 
would not be permitted in the future.] 

7. His Majesty having exhorted the three orders, for the 
safety of the state, to unite themselves during this session of 
estates only, to deliberate in comimon upon the affairs of gen- 
eral utility, wishes to make his intentions known upon the 
manner of procedure. ' 

8. There shall be particularly excepted from the afifairs 
which can be treated in common, those that concern the an- 
cient and constitutional rights of the three orders, the form of 
constitution to be given to the next States-General, the feudal 
and seignioral rights, the useful rights and honorary preroga- 
tives of the first two orders. 

9. The especial consent of the clergy will be necessary for 
all provisions which could interest religion, eccelsiastical disci- 
pline, the regime of the orders and secular and regular bodies. 

11. If, with the view of facilitating the union of the 
three orders, they desire that the propositions that shall have 
been considered in common, should pass only by a majority of 
two-thirds of the votes. His Majesty is disposed to authorise 
this form. 

12. Matters which shall have been decided in the assembly 



The Royal Session 5 

of the three orders united shall be taken np again the next day 
for deliberation, if one hundred members of the assembly unite 
to ask for it. 

15. Good order, decency, and liberty of the ballot even, 
require that His Majesty prohibit, as he expressly does, that 
any person, other than the members of the three orders com- 
prising the States-General, should be present at their deliber- 
ations, whether they deliberate in common or separately. 

B. Declaration of the Intentions of the King. June 23, 
1789. Duvergier, Lois, I, 26-28. Translation, Mrs. Fred M. 
Fling, Fling's Source Studies,, The Royal Session, 36-44. • 

1. No new tax shall be established, no old one shall 
be continued beyond the term fixed by the laws, without 
the consent of the representatives of the nation. 

2. The new taxes which will be established, or the 
old ones which will be continued, shall hol4 only for the in- 
terval which will elapse until the time of the following ses- 
sion of the States-General. 

3. As the borrowing of money might lead to an increase 
of taxes, no money shall be borrowed, without the consent 
of the States-General, imder the condition, however, that in 
case of war, or other .national danger, the sovereign shall have 
the right to borrow without delay, to the amount of one hun- 
dred millions : for it is the formal intention pf the king never 
to make the safety of his realm dependent upon any person. 

4. The States-General shall exaitjine with care the situa- 
tion of the finances, and they shall demand all the information 
necessary to enlighten them perfectly. 

5. The statement of receipts and expenses shall be made 
public each year, in a form proposed by the States-General 
and approved by His Majesty. 

6. The sums attributed to each department, shall be de- 
termined in a fixed and invariable manner, and the king sub- 
mits to this general rule even the funds that are destined for 
the maintenance of his household. 

7. The king wishes, in order to assure this fixity of the 
different expenses of the state, that provisions suitable to ac- 
complish this object be suggested to him by the States-Gen- 
eral; and His Majesty will adopt them, if they are in accord- 



6 The Royal Session 

ance with the royal dignity and the indispensable celerity of 
the public service. 

8. The representatives of a nation faithful to the laws 
of honor and probity, will make no attack upon the public 
credit, and the king expects from them that the confidence 
of the creditors of the state will be assured and secured in the 
most authentic manner. 

9. When the formal dispositions announced by the clergy 
and the nobility, to renounce their pecuniary privileges, shall 
have became a reality by their deliberations, it is the intention 

., of the king to sanction them, and there will no longer exist 

^ any kind of privileges or distinctions in the payment of taxes. 

j 10. The king wishes that to consecrate a disposition so 

j important, the name of taille be abolished in the kingdom, 

■^ and that this tax be joined either to the vingtiemes, or 

j to any other land tax, or finally that it be replaced in some 

way, but always in just and equal proportions and without 

distinction of estate, rank and birth. 
\. II. The king wishes that the tax of f^'anc-iief be abolished 

from the time when the revenues and fixed expenses of the 

state exactly balance. 

12. All property rights, without exception, shall be con- 
stantly respected, and His Majesty expressly understands un- 
der the name of property rights, tithes, rents, annuities, 
feudal and seignioral rights and duties, and, in general, all 
the rights and prerogatives useful or honorary, attached to 
lands and fiefs or pertaining to persons. 

13. The first two orders of the state shall continue to 
j enjoy exemptions from personal charges, but the king would 
I be pleased to have the States-General consider means of con- 

! verting this kind of charges into pecuniary contributions and 
that then all the orders of the state may be equally subjected 
to them. 

14. It is the intention of His Majesty to determine, in ac- 
cord with the States-General, what the employments and duties 
shall be which will preserve in the future the privilege of giv- 
ing and transmitting nobility. His Majesty, nevertheless, ac- 
cording to the inherent right of his crown, will grant titles 
of nobility to those of his subjects who by services rendered 
to the king or to the state shall show themselves worthy of 
this recompense. 



The Royal Session 7 

15. The king, desiring to assure the personal liberty of 
all citizens in the most solid and durable manner, invites the 
States-General to seek for and to propose to him the means 
that may be the rriost fitting to conciliate the orders known 
under the name of lettres de cachet, with the maintenance 
of public security and with the precautions necessary in some 
cases to guard the honor of families, to repress with celerity 
the beginning of sedition or to guarantee the state from the 
effects of criminal negotiations with foreign powers. 

16. The States-General shall examine and make known to 
His Majesty, the means most fitting to reconcile the liberty 
of the press with respect due to religion, custom, and the hon- 
or of the citizens. 

17. There shall be established in the different provinces 
or generalities of the kingdom, provincial-estates composed 
thus : two-tenths of the members of the clergy, a part of 
whom will necessarily be chosen in the episcopal order ; three- 
tenths of members of the nobility, and five-tenths of members 
of the Third Estate. 

t8. The members of these provincial-estates shall be freely 
elected by the respective orders, and a certain amount of prop- 
erty shall be necessary to be an elector or eligible. 

19. The deputies to these provincial-estates shall delib- 
erate in common upon all affairs, following the usage observed 
in the provincial assemblies, which these estates shall replace. 

20. An intermediary commission, chosen by these estates, 
shall administer the affairs of the province, during the interval 
from one session to another, and these intermediary com- 
missions becoming alone responsible for their conduct, shall 
have for delegates persons chosen wholly by them or the pro- 
vincial-estates. 

21. The States-General shall propose to the king their 
views upon all the other parts of interior organization of 
the provincial-estates, and upon the choice of forms applicable 
to the election of the members of this assembly. 

22. Independently of the objects of administration with 
which the provincial assemblies are charged, the king will 
confide to the provincial-estates the administration of the 
hospitals, prisons, charity stations, foundling homes, the inspec- 
tion of the expenses of the cities, the surveillance over the main- 
tenance of the forests, the protection and sale of the wood, and 



8 The Royal Session 

over other objects which could be more usefully adiTlinistered 
by the provinces. 

23. The disputes occurring in the provinces where ancient 
estates exist, and the protests that have arisen against the 
constitution of the assemblies, ought to claim the attention of 
the States-General; they will make known to His Majesty the 
dispositions of justice and wisdom' that it is suitable to adopt 
to establish a fixed order in the administration of these sarrie 
provinces. 

24. The king invites the States-General to occupy them- 
selves in the quest of the proper means to turn to account 
the most advantageously the domains which are in his hands, 
and to propose to himi equally their views upon what can be 
done the most conveniently with the domains that have been 
leased. 

25. The States-General shall consider the project conceived 
a long time ago by His Majesty of transferring the collection 
of tariffs to the frontiers of the kingdom, in order that the 
most perfect liberty may reign in the internal circulation of 
national or foreign merchandise. 

26. His Majesty desires that the unfortunate effects of the 
impost upon salt and the importance of this revenue be care- 
fully discussed, and that in all the substitutions, means of 
lightening the collection may at least be proposed. 

27. His Majesty wishes also that the advantages and in- 
conveniences of the internal revenue tax on liquors and other 
taxes be examined attentively, but without losing sight of 
the absolute necessity of assuring an exact balance between 
the revenues and expenses of the state. 

28. According to the wish that the king manifested by 
his declaration of the 23rd of last September, His Majesty 
will examine with serious attention the plans which may be 
presented to him, relative to the administration of justice, 
and to the means of perfecting the civil and criminal laws. 

29. The king wishes that the laws that he will have pro- 
mulgated during the session and after the advice or accord- 
ing to the wish of the States-General, may experience in their 
registration and execution no delay nor any obstacle in all 
the extent of his kingdom. 

30. His Majesty wishes that the use of the corvee for 



The Royal Session 9 

the making and maintenance of the roads, be entirely and 
forever abolished in his kingdom. 

31. The king desires that the abolition of the right of 
main-tnorte, of which His Majesty has given the example 
in his domains, be extended to all France, and that means 
be proposed to him for providing the indemnity which would 
be due the lords in possession of this right. 

32. His Majesty will make known at once to the States- 
General the regulations with which he occupies himself for 
the purpose of restricting the capitaineries, to give, further- 
more, in this connection, which touches the most nearly his 
own pleasures, a new proof of his love for his people. 

33. The king invites the States-General to consider the 
drawing for the militia in all its aspects and to study the 
means of reconciling what is due to the defence of the state, 
with the extenuations that His Majesty desires to procure 
for his subjects. 

34. The king wishes that all the dispositions of public 
order and kindness toward his people, that His Majesty will 
have sanctioned by his authority, during the present session 
of the States-General, those among others, relative to person- 
al liberty, the equality of contributions, the establishment of 
the provincial-estates, may never be changed without the con- 
sent of the three orders, given separately. His Majesty places 
them in the same rank with the national properties, that like 
all other property, he wishes to place under the most assured 
protection. 

35. His Majesty, after having called the States-General 
to study, together with him, great matters of public utility and 
everything which can contribute to the happiness of his peo- 
ple, declares, in the most express manner, that he wishes to 
preserve in its entirety and without the least impairment, the 
constitution of the army, as well as every authority, both po- 
lice authority and military power over the militia, such as the 
French monarchs have constantly enjoyed. 

Discourse of the King. 

You have, gentlemen, heard the substance of my dispo- 
sitions and of my wishes ; they are conformable to the earnest 
desire that I have for the public welfare ; and, if, by a fatality 
far from my thoughts, you should abandon me m so fine an 



10 The Royal Session 

enterprise, alone I will assure the well being of my people, 
alone I will consider myself as their true representative ; and 
knowing your cahiers, knowing the perfect accord which ex- 
ists between the most general wish of the nation and my 
kindly intentions, I will have all the confidence which so rare 
a harmony ought to inspire and I will advance towards the 
goal that I wish to attain with all the courage and firmness 
that it ought to inspire in me. 

Reflect, gentlemen, that none of your projects, none ol 
your dispositions can have the force of a law without my 
special approbation. So I am the natural guarantee of your 
respective rights, and all the orders of the state can depend 
upon my equitable impartiality. All distrust upon your part 
would be a great injustice. It is I, at present, who am doing 
everything for the happiness of my people, and it is rare, 
perhaps, that the only ambition of a sovereign is to come 
to an understanding with his subjects that they may accept 
his kindnesses. 

I order you, gentkmen, to separate immediately, and to go 
tomorrow morning, each to the chamber allotted to your 
order, in order to take up again your sessions. I order, there- 
fore, the grand master of ceremonies to have the halls pre- 
pared. 

C. Decree of the Assembly, Tune 23, 1879. Proces-z'erbal 
de I'assemblee nationale, 1789. No. 5, 3. Translation, Mrs. 
Fred M. Fling, in Fling's Source Studies, Royal Session, 31. 

The National Assembly unanimously declares tliat it per- 
sists in its previous resolutions. 

The National Assembly declares that the person of each 
of the deputies is inviolable ; that any individuals, any corpora- 
tions, tribunal, court or commission that shall dare, during 
or after the present session, to pursue, to seek for, to arrest 
or have arrested, detain or have detained, a deputy, by reason 
of any propositions, advice, opinions, or discourse made by 
him in the States-Generalj as well as all persons who shall 
lend their aid to any of the said attempts by whomsoever they 
may be ordered, are infamous and traitors to the nation, 
and guilty of capital crime. The National Assembly decrees 
that, in the aforesaid cases, it will take all the necessary meas- 



Fourth of August Decrees H 

ures to have sought out, pursued and punished those who may 
be its authors, instigators or executors. 



4. The Fourth of August Decrees. 

August 4-11, 1780. Dnvergier. Loifi, I, S.3-3.5. Translation, James 
Harvey Robinson, University of Pennsylvania Translations and Re- 
prints. 

The overtlirow of the Bastile on July 14, 1789. was followed 
by a revolution in the provinces. Directed principally at the 
destruction of those feudal arrangements which bore most harshly 
upon the peasantry, this revolution was marked by much violence 
and misery. A report upon the condition of the provinces read 
in the Constituent Assembly on the night of August 4 led to the 
adoption of this decree. It was passed in a burst of enthusiasm 
for the regeneration of France. This haste made necessary some 
slight modifications a week later. 

Refeeencbs. Gardiner, French Itevolution, 49-51 ; Mathews. 
French Revolution. 138-141; Stephens, French Revolution, I. 165- 
168 ; Von Sybel, French Revolution, I, 82-86 : Cambridge Modern 
History, VIII, 179-180, 715-717 ; Lavisse and RamDaud, Histoire 
generale, VIII, 70-72 ; .Taures, Histoire socialiste, I, 277-299, 306- 
808. 



1. The National Assembly completely abolishes the feudal 
regime. It decrees that, among the rights and dues, both feud- 
al and censuel, all those originating in real or personal serf- 
dom, personal servitude, and those which represent them, are 
abolished without indemnification ; all others are declared re- 
deemable, and that the price and mode of the redemption shall 
be fixed by the National Assembly. Those of the said dues 
which are not extinguished by this decree shall, nevertheless, 
continue to be collected until indemnification takes place. 

2. The exclusive right to maintain pigeon-houses and 
dove-cotes is abolished ; the pigeons shall be confined during 
the seasons fixed by the communities ; and during that time, 
they shall be regarded as game, and every one shall have the 
right to kill them upon his own land. 

3. The exclusive right to hunt and to maintain unenclosed 
warrens is likewise abolished; and every land-owner shiall have 
the right to kill or to have destroyed upon his own land only, 
all kinds of game, observing, however, such police regulations 
as may be established with a view to the safety of the public. 

All capitaineries, royal included, and all hunting reserves, 
under vv'hatever denominations, are likewise abolished, and 



12 Fourth of August Decrees 

provision shall be made, in a manner compatible with the re- 
spect due to property and liberty, for maintaining the person- 
al pleasures of the king. 

The president of the assembly shall be commissioned to ask 
of the king the recall of those sent to the galleys or exiled 
simply for violations of the hunting regulations, as well as 
for the release of those at present imprisoned for offences 
of this kind, and the disinissal of such cases as are now pend- 
ing. . 

4. All manorial courts are suppressed without indemnifi- 1 
cation ; nevertheless the magistrates of these courts shall con- r 
tinue to perforni their functions until such time as the Na- jj 
tional Assembly shall provide for the establishment of a .new .' 
judicial system. 

5. Tithes of every description and the dues which have 
been substituted for them, under whatever denomination they 
are known or collected, even when compounded for, possessed 
by secular or regular congregations, by holders of benefices, 
members of corporations, including the Order of Malta and 
other religious and military orders, as well as those impro- 
priated to lay persons and those substituted for the portion 
congrue, are abolished, on condition, however, that some other 
method be devised to provide for the expenses of divine wor- 
ship, the support of the officiating clergy, the relief of the poor, 
repairs and rebuilding of churches and parsonages, and for 
all establishments, seminaries, schools, academies, asylum's, 
communities and other institutions, for the nlaintenance of 
which they are actually devoted. And moreover, until such 
provision shall be made and the former possessors shall enter 
upon the enjoyment of an income on the new sy.=;tem, the 
National Assembly decrees that the said tithes shall con- 
tinue to be collected according to law and in the customary 
manner. Other tithes of whatever nature they may be, shall 
be redeemable in such manner as the Assembly shall deter- 
miine. Until such regulation shall be issued, the National 
Assembly decrees that these, too, shall continue to be collected. 

6. All perpetual ground rents, payable either in money 
or in kind, of whatever nature they may be, whatever their 
origin, and to whomsoever they may be due, as to members 
of corporations, domanial apanagists, or to the Order of 
Malta, shall be redeemable; champarts, of every kind and un- 



Fourth of August Decrees 13 

der every denomination, shall likewise be redeemable at a ratt 
fixed by the assembly. No due shall in the future be cre- 
ated which is not redeemable. 

7. The sale of judicial and municipal offices shall be sup- 
pressed forthwith. Justice shall be dispensed gratis ; never- 
theless, the magistrates at present holding such offices . shall 
continue to exercise their functions and to receive their emol- 
uments until' the assembly shall have made provision for in- 
demnifying them. 

8. The fees of the country cures are abolished, and shall 
be discontinued as soon as prevision shall be made for in- 
creasing the minimum salary {portion congrue) for priests and 
for the payment to the curates ; and there shall be a regulation 
drawn up to determine the status of the priests in the towns. 

9. Pecuniary privileges, personal or real, in the payment of 
taxes are abolished forever. The assessment shall be made 
upon all the citizens and upon all property, in the same manner 
and in the same form; and plans shall be considered by which 
the taxes shall be paid proportionally by all, even for the last 
six months of the current year. 

10. Inasmuch as a national constitution and public liberty 
are of more advantage to the provinces than the privileges 
which some of these enjoy, and inasmuch as the surrender of 
such privileges is essential to the intimate union of all parts 
of the realm, it is declared that all the peculiar privileges, 
pecuniary or otherwise, of the provinces, principalities, dis- 
tricts, cantons, cities and communes, are once for all abolished 
and are absorbed into the law common to all Frenchmen. 

11. All citizens, without distinction of birth, are eligible 
td any office or dignity, whether ecclesiastical, civil or military; 
and no profession shall imply any derogation. 

12. Hereafter no -remittances shall be made for annates 
or for any other purpose to the court of Rome, the vice-lega- 
tion at Avignon, or to the nunciature at Lucerne ; but the 
clergy of the diocese shall ■ apply to their bishops for all pro- 
visions in regard to benefices 'and dispensations, which shall 
be granted gratis, without regard to reservations, expectancies, 
and monthly divisions, all the churches .of France enjoying 
the same freedom. 

13. The rights of deport, of cote-morte, depoiiilles, vacat, 
censaux, Peter's pence, and other dues of the same kind, under 



14 Fourth of August Decrees 

whatever denomination, established in favor of bishops, arch- 
deacons, archpresbyters, chapters, cures primitifs and all oth- 
ers, are abolished, but appropriate provision shall be made for 
those benefices of archdeacons and archpresbyters which are 
not sufficiently endowed. 

14. Pluralities shall not be permitted hereafter in cases 
where the revenue from the benefice or benefices held shall 
exceed the sum of three thousand livres. Nor shall any in- 
dividual be allowed to enjoy several pensions from benefices, 
or a pension and a benefice, if the revenue which he already 
enjoys from such sources exceeds the same sum of three 
thousand livres. 

15. The National Assembly shall consider, in conjunction 
with the king, the report which is to be submitted to it re- 
lating to pensions, favors and salaries, with a view to sup- 
pressing all such as are not deserved and reducing those which 
shall prove excessive ; and the amount shall be fixed which 
the king may in the future disburse for this purpose. 

16. The National Assembly decrees that a medal shall be 
struck in memory of the recent grave and important delibera- 
tions for the welfare of France, and that a Te Deiim shall be 
chanted in gratitude in all the parishes and the churches of 
France. 

17. The National Assembly solemnly proclaims the king, 
Louis XVI, the Restorer of French Liberty. 

18. The National Assembly shall present itself in a body 
before the king, in order to submit to His Majesty the decree 
which has just been passed, to tender to him the tokens of its 
most respectful gratitude, and to pray him to permit the Te 
beum to be chanted in his chapel, and to be present himself 
at this service. 

10. The National Assembly shall consider, immediately 
after the constitution, the drawing up of the laws necessary 
for the development of the principles which it has laid down 
in the present decree which shall be transmitted without delay 
by the deputies to all the provinces, together with the decree 
of the tenth of this month, in order that both may be printed, 
published, announced from the parish pulpits, and posted up 
wherever it shall be deemed necessary. 



Declaration of Rights 15 

5. Declaration of the Rights of Man and 
Citizen. 

August 26, 1789. Duvergier, Lois, I, 38. 

This is the most famous document connected with tue early 
stages of the revolution. Until recently it has been regarded as 
an outgrowth of the doctrinaire ideas of the pre-revolutionary 
thinkers, especially of Rousseau. It should be studied, however, 
in the light of recent investigations into its origin and character. 
These investigations show (1) that the idea of formulating such 
a declaration was taken from the bills of rights attached to Amer- 
ican state constitutions and (2) that In general each of its pro- 
visions is aimed at some great existing abuse. 

References. Jellinek, Declaration of the Rights of Man and 
Citizen ; James Harvey Robinson. Political Science Quarterly, XIV, 
653-662 ; Cambridge Modern History, VIII, 178-179, 727-728 ; 
Aulard, Revolution franpiise, 39-48 ; Jaurfes. Histoire socialiste, 
1, 156-174, 299-308, 342-347 ; Boutmy, jStudes politiques, 117-182. 

[This was subsequently inconporated in the constitution of 
1791. See No. 15.] 



Documents upon the Constituent Assembly 
and the Church. 



These documents show both the general attitude of the Con- 
stituent Assembly towards religion and the revolution which it 
sought to effect in the position of the Gallican Church. Careful 
attention to the phraseology of the documents will reveal much 
foncerning the ideas upon which the assembly proceeded. 

REFEr.ENCES. Mnthews, French Revolution, 161-163 ; Sloane, 
French Revolution and Religious Reform, Chs. v-viii ; Gardiner, 
French Revolution, 67-69 ; Stephens, French Revolution, I, Ch. x ; 
Cambridge Modern History. VIII, 194-198; Debidour, L'£!glise et 
Ij'f':tat, Part I, Chs. i and 11; Jaurfes, Histoire socialiste, I, 
521-548. 



A. Decree upon the Church Lands. November 2, 1789, 
Duvergier, Lois, I, 54-55- 

The National Assembly decrees, ist, that all the ecclesias-i 
tical estates are at the disposal of the nation, on condition of 
providing in a suitable manner for the expense of worship, the 
^maintenance of its ministers, and the relief of the poor, under 
the supervision and following the directions of the provinces ; 
2d, that in the provisions to be made, in order to provide for 
the maintenance of the ministers of religion, there can be 



i6 Constituent Assembly and Church 

assured for the endowment of each cure not less than tivelve 
hundred livres per annum, not including the dwelling and the 
gardens attached. 

B. Decree upon Monastic Vows. February 13, 1790. Du- 
vergier, Lois, I, 100. , - 

1. The constitutional law of the kingdom shall no longer 
recognize solemn monastic vows of persons of either sex ; in 
consequence, the orders and congregations living according to 
rule in which such vows have been, made are and shall remain 
suppressed in France, without there being any similar ones al- 
lowed in the future. ' ~ 

2. All persons of either sex living in the monasteries 
and religious houses may leave them by making their declara- 
tions before the municipality of the place, and there shall im- 
mediately be provision made for their existence by a suitable 
pension. There shall also be houses set aside to which the 
religious who do not wish to profit by the provision of the 
present [article] shall be required to retire. Moreover, there 
shall be no change for the present in respect to the houses 
charged with ipublic education and the establishments of char- 
ity and any that have until now taken part in these matters. 

3. The religious may remain in the houses in which they 
are at present, excepting those described in the article which 
requires the religious to unite several houses into one. 

C. The Civil Constitution of the Clergy. July 12, 1750. 
Duvergier, Lois, 1, 242-248. Translation based upon that of 
James Harvey Robinson, University of Pennsylvania Trans- 
lations and Reprints. 

The National Assembly, after having heard the report of 
the Ecclesiastical Committee, has decreed and does decree the 
following as constitutional articles : — 

Title I. Of the Ecclesiastical Offices. 

1. Each department shall form a single diocese, and each 
diocese shall have the same extent and the same limits as the 
department. 

2. The seats of the bishoprics of the eighty-three depart- 
ments of the kingdom shall be established as follows : 



Constituent Assembly and Church 17 

That of the department of the Lower Seine at Rouen ; 
tliat of the department of Calvados at Bayeux .... [The 
names of the remaining episcopal sees are here omitted.] 

All other bishoprics in the eighty-three departments of the 
kingdom, which are not included by name in the present article, 
are and forever shall be abolished. ' 

The kingdom shall be divided into ten metropolitan dis- 
tricts, of which the sees shall be situated at Rouen, Rheims, 
Besangon, Rennes, Paris, Bourges, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Aix 
and Lyons. . . . 

3. [This article enumerates the departments included in 
each archbishopric] 

4. No church or parish of France nor any French citizen 
may acknowledge upon any occasion or upon any pretext what- 
soever, the authority of an ordinary bishop or of an archbish- 
op whose see shall be under the supremacy of a foreign powen 
nor that of tlieir representatives residing in France or else- 
where; without prejudice, however, to the unity of the faith 
and the intercourse which shall be maintained with the visible 
head of the universal churchj as hereinafter provided, 

5. After the bishop of a diocese shall have rendered his 
decision in his synod upon the matters lying within his compe- 
tence an appeal may be carried to the archbishop, who shall 
give his decision in the metropolitan synod. 

6. A new arrangement a,nd division of all the parishes of 
the kingdom shall be undertaken immediately in concert with 
the bishop and the district administration. The number and 
extent of the parishes shall be determined according to rules 
which shall be laid down. 

7. The cathedral church of each diocese shall be restored 
to its primitive condition, and be hereafter at once the church 
of the parish and of the diocese, by the suppression of parishes 
and by, the redistribution of dwellings which it may be deemed 
necessary to include in the new parish. ■ 

[Articles 8 to 13, here omitted, regulate the organization 
of the cathedral church and provide for one seminary in each' 
diocese.] 

14. The vicars of the cathedral churches, the superior 
yicar and directing vicars of the seminary, shall form the 
regular and permanent council of the bishop, who shall per- 
form no official act which concerns the government of the dio- 



1 8 Constituent Assembly and Church 

cese or of the seminary until he has consulted them; the bish- 
op may, however, i.n the course of his visits issue such pro- 
visional ordinances as may be necessary. 

15. There shall be but a single parish in all cities and 
towns having not more than 6,000 inhabitants ; the other par- 
ishes shall be abolished or absorbed into that of the episcopal 
church. 

16. In cities having a population of more than 6,000 inhab- 
itants a parish may include a greater number of parishioners, 
and as many parishes shall be perpetuated as the needs of the 
people and localities shall require. 

17. The admmistrative assemblies, in concert with the 
bishop of the diocese, shall indicate to the next legislative as- 
sembly, the country and subordinate urban parishes which 
ought to be contracted or enlarged, established or abolished ; 
and they shall lay out these districts according to what the 
needs of the people, the dignitj'- of religion, and the different 
localities shall require. 

20. All titles and offices other than those mentioned in the 
present constitution, dignites, canonries, prebends, half-preb- 
ends, chapels, chaplainships, both in cathedral and collegiate 
churches, all regular and secular chapters for either sex, ab- 
bacies and priorships, both regular and in coinmendain, for 
either sex. as well as all other benefices and prestimonies in 
general, of whatever kind or denomination, are from the day 
of this decree extinguished and abolished and shall never be 
re-established in any form. 

Title II. Appointments to Benefices, 

1. Beginning with the day of publication of the present de- 
cree there shall be but one mode of choosing bishops and 

^:^ cures, namely that of election. — 

2. All elections shall be by ballot and shall be decided by 
the majority of the votes. 

3. The election of bishops shall take place according to 
the forms and by the electoral body designated in the decree 
of December 22, 1789, for the election of members of the de- 
partmental assembly. 



Constituent Assembly and Church 19 



6. The election of a bishop can only take place or be un- 
dertaken upon Sunday, in the principal church of the chief 
town of the department, at the close of the parish mass, at 
which all the electors are required to be present. 

7. In order to be eligible to a bishopric, one must have 
fulfilled for fifteen years at least the duties of the church min- 
istry in the diocese as a parish priest, officiating minister or 
curate, or as superior, or as directing vicar of the seminary. 

17. The archbishop or senior bishop of the province shall 
have the right to examine the bishop-elect in the presence of 
his council upon his belief and his character. If he deems him 
fit for the position he shall give him the canonical institution. 
If he believes it his duty to refuse this, the reasons for his re- 
fusal shall be recorded in writing and signed by the archbishop 
and his council, reserving to the parties concerned the right to 
appeal on the ground of an abuse of power as hereinafter 
provided. 

18. The bishop applied to for institution may not exact 
of the person elected any form of oath except that he makes 
profession of the Roman Catholic and Apostolic religion. 

19. The new bishop shall not apply to the Pope for any 
form of confirmation, but shall write to him as the Visible 
Head of the Universal Church, as a testimony to the unity of 
faith and communion maintained with him. 

21. Before the ceremony of consecration begins, the bish- 
op-elect shall take a solemn oath in the presence of the mu- 
nicipal officers, the people and the clergy, to guard with 
care the faithful of his diocese who are confided to him, to be 
loyal to the nation, the law and the king, and to support with 
all his power the constitution decreed by the National Assem- 
bly and accepted by the king. 

25. The election of the parish priests shall take place ac- 
cording to the forms and by the electors designated in the de- 
cree of December 22, 1789, for the election of members of the 
administrative assembly of the district. 

29. Each elector, before depositing his ballot in the ballot 



20 Constituent Assembly and Church 

box, shall take oath to vote for that person whom he has 
conscientiously selected in his heart as the most worthy, with- 
out having been influenced by any gift, promise, solicitation or 
threat. The same oath shall be required at the election, of the 
bishops as in the case of the parish priests. , 

38. The cures elected and installed shall take the same 
<Dath as the bishops on a Sunday in their church, in the pres- 
ence of the municipal officers, the people and the clergy ;of 
the place. Until then they shall not perform any priestly 
function. 

.. 40. Bishoprics and cures shall be looked upon as vacant 
until those elected to fill them shall have taken the oath above 
mentioned. . , 



Title III. Salaries of the Ministers of Religion. 

1. The ministers of religion, performing as they do the 
first and most important functions of society, and forced to 
live continuously in the place where they dischafge. the offices 
to which they have been called by the confidence of the people, 
shall be supported by the nation. 

2. Every bishop, priest and officiating clergyman in a chap- 
el of ease, shall be furnished with a suitable dwelling, on con- 
dition, however, that the occupant shall .make all the necessary 
current repairs. This shall not affect, at present, in any way, 
those parishes where the priest now receives a money equiv- 
alent instead of his dwelling. The departments shall, more- 
over, have cognizance of suits arising in this connection, 
brought by the parishes and by the priests. Salaries shall be 
assigned to each, as indicated below. r 

3. The bishop of Paris shall receive so,opo livres ; the 
bishops of cities having a population of 50,000 or -more, 20,000 
livres; other bishops, 12,000 livres. 

4. [Article 4 fixes the salaries of the vicars of cathedral 
churches. These ranged from 60GO-3000 livres]. 

'5. The salaries of the cui^es shall be as follows: In 
Paris;' 6000 livres. 

In cities having a population, of 50,000 or over, 4000 livres. 

In those having a population of less than 50,000 and more 
than 10,000, 3,000 livres. ' ':■;•■ ,";./ 



Constituent Assembly and Church Zi 

In cities and towns of which the .popijlation is below 10,000 
and more than 3,000, 2,400 livres. ; ■, , --, , 

In all other cities, towns and villages where the parish shall 
have a population between 3000 and 2500, 2000 livres ; in those 
between 2500 and 2000, 1800 livres ; in those having a popula- 
tion of less than 2000, and more than 1000. the sala'ry shall be 
1500 livres ; in those having 1000 inhabitants and under, 1200 
livres. 

6. [The salaries of the curates, fixed by article 6, ranged 
from 2400 livres at Paris to 700 in the small, places.] 

7. The salaries in money of the ministers of religion shall 
be paid every three months, in advance, by the treasurer of 
the district. 

11. The schedule fixed above for the payment of the min- 
isters of religion shalli go into effect 'upon the day of -publica- 
tion of this decree, but only in the case of those who shall 
be afterward provided with ecclesiastical offices. The remu- 
neration of the present holders, both those whose offices or 
functions are abolished and those whose titles are retained, 
shall be fixed by a special decree. ' 

12. In view of the salary which is assured to them by the 
present constitution, the bishops, cures, and curates shall 
perform the episcopal and priestly functions gratis. 

Title IV. Of the L?iw of Residence. 

1. The law of residence shall be strictly observed, and 
all vested with an ecclesiastical office or function shall be sub- 
ject thereto without any distinction or exception. 

2. No bishop shall absent himself from his diocese more 
than fifteen days consecutively during the year, except in case 
of real necessity, and with the consent of the directory of the 
department in which his see is situated. 

3. In the same .manner the cures and the curates may not 
absent themselves from the place of their duties beyond the 
term fixed above, except for weighty reasons, and even in 
such cases the cures must obtain the permission both of their 
bishop and of the , directory of their district, and the curates 
that, of their cures. 

4. In case a bishop or a cMr*?, shall violate this law requir- 
ing residence, the • municipal government of the place 



22 Constituent Assembly and Church 

shall inform the procurcur-general-syndic of the department, 
who shall issue a summons to him to return to his duties, and- 
after a second warning, shall take steps to have his salary de- 
clared forfeited for the whole period of his absence. 

6. Bishops, cures and curates may, as active citizens, be 
present at the primary and electoral assemblies, they may 
be chosen electors or as deputies to the legislative body, or as 
members of the general council of the communes or of the 
administrative councils of their districts or departments ; but 
their duties are declared incompatible with those of mayor and 
other municipal offices and those of the members of the di- 
rectories of the district and of the department ; and if elected 
to one of these last mentioned offices they must make a 
choice between it and their ecclesiastical position. 

7. The incompatibility of office mentioned in article 6 shall 
only to be observed in the future ; and if any bishops, cures, or 
curates have been called by the wish of their fellow-citizens 
to the offices of mayor or to other municipal offices, or have 
been elected imembers of the directory of the district or of 
the department they may continue to exercise their functions. 

D. Decree upon the Clerical Oath. November 27, 1790. 
Duvergier, Lois, II, 59-60. 

1. The bishops and former archbishops and the n<r(?.y kept 
in their positions shall be required, if they have not already 
done so, to take the oath for which they are liable . 
concerning the civil constitution of the clergy. In conse- 
quence they shall swear ... to look with care after the faith- 
ful of their diocese or the parish which is intrusted to them, 
to be faithful to the nation, to the law and to the king, and to 
maintain with all their power the constitution decreed by the 
National Assembly and accepted by the king; to wit those who 
are actually in their diocese or their parish within a week; 
those who are absent therefrom but are in France, within a 
month; and those who are abroad within two months. All 
to date from the publication of the present decree. 

2. [The same requirement, except the first clause, is made 
of "all other ecclesiastical public functionaries."] 



Constituent Assembly and Church 23 

5. Those of the said bishops, former archbishops, cures, 
and other ecclesiastical public functionaries, who shall not 
have taken . . . the oath which is prescribed for them respec- 
tively, shall be reputed to have renounced their office and 
there shall he provision made for their replacemient, as in 
case of vacancy by resignation. . . . 



E. Decree upon the Publication of Papal Documents, June 
9, 1791. Duvergier, Lois, III, 10. 

The National Assembly, after having heard its united con- 
stitutional and ecclesiastical committees, considering that it is 
of importance for the national sovereignty and the mainte- 
nance of public order within the kingdom, to determine con- 
stitutionally the conservative forms of the ancient and salutary 
maxims by which the French nation has always kept clear of 
the encroachments of the court of Rome, without lacking in 
the respect due to the head of the catholic church, declares as 
follows : 

I. No briefs, bulls, rescripts, constitutions, decrees, or 
other documents of the court of Rome, under any denomina- 
tion whatsoever, shall be recognized as such, received, pub- 
lished, printed, posted, or otherwise put into execution within 
the kingdom, but they shall here be null and of no effect, un- 
less they have been presented to the legislative body, seen 
and verified by it, and unless their publication and execution 
have been authorised by a decree sanctioned by the king and 
promulgated in the forms established for the notification of 
the laws. 

2. The bishops, cures, and other public functionaries, 
whether ecclesiastical or lay, who in contravention of the pre- 
ceding article, shall read, distribute, cause to be read, distrib- 
uted, printed, posted, or shall otherwise give publicity or ex- 
ecution to the briefs, bulls, rescripts, constitutions, decrees, or 
other documents of the court of Rome, not authorised by a 
decree of the legislative body sanctioned by the king, shall be 
prosecuted criminally as disturbers of the public order and 
punished with the penalty of civic degradation, without prej- 
udice to the execution of article 2 of the decree of May 7 
last. 



24 Local Government Decrees . 

7^ Decrees for Reorganizing the Local Gov- 
ernment System. 

' These documents exhibit the general outline of the scheme for 
local government devised by the Constituent Assembly in order 
to replace that of the old regirhe, which largely disappeared during 
the revolution in the provinces following the overthrow of the 
Bastile. The extent of the revolution in local affairs may be seen 
by comparing this scheme of government with that which it re- 
placed. Some parts of the scheme here outlined have been perma- 
hent, others have been seriously modified or discarded ; the per- 
manent features should be particularly noted. 

Kefeuencbs. Stephens, French Revolution, I, 278-284 ; Cam- 
hridge Modern History, VIII, 190-191, 204-206; Lavisse and Ham- 
baud. Histoire r/enerdle, VIII, .,70-84 ; Jaures, Histoire socialiste, 
1, 39&-400, 403-412. 

A. Decree upon the Municipalities. December 14, 1789. 
Dttvergier, Lois, I, 63-67. 

I. The actually existing municipalities in each city, bor- 
ough, parish, or community, under the titles of hotels-de-ville, 
mayoralities, aldermanates, consulates, and generally under 
anj' title or qualification whatsoever, are suppressed and 
abolished; the municipal officers actually in service, however, 
shall continue their functions tmtil they may be replaced. 

2. The offices and members of the existing municipalities 
shall be replaced by means of election. 

; 3. The rights of presentation, appointment, or confirma- 
tion, and the rights of presidency or of presence in the mu- 
nicipal assemblies, claimed or exercised as being attached to 
the possession of certain lands, to the functions of province 
or city commandant, bishoprics, or archbishoprics, and in gen> 
eral by any other title whatsoever, are. abolished. 

4. The head of every municipal body shall bear the title 
of mayor. 

5. All the active citizens of each city, borough, parish or 
community, may participate in the election of the members of 
the municipal body. 

6. The active citizens shall meet in a single assembly in 
the communities where there are less than four thousand in- 
habitants; in two assemblies in 7 the communities of four to 
eight thousand inhabitants; in three assemblies in the com- 
munities of eight to twelve thousand inhabitants, and so on. 



Local Government Decrees 25 

7. The assemblies shall not form themselves by crafts, 
professions, or corporations, but by quarters or districts. 

12. The conditions of eligibility for the municipal adnfiin- 
istrations shall be the same as for the department and dis- 
trict administrations ; nevertheless, the kinsmen and relatives 
by marriage in the degrees of father and son, father-in-law 
and son-in-law, brother and brother-in-law, uncle and neph- 
ew, cannot be at the same time members of the same mu- 
nicipal body. 

13. The municipal officers and the notables who shall be 
spoken of hereinafter can be chosen only from among the 
eligible citizens of the commune. 

24. After the elections, the active citizens of the commu- 
nity shall not remain assembled, or assemble again in com- 
munal body, without an express convocation ordered by the 
general council of the commune, which shall be spoken of 
hereinafter. This council shall not refuse it, if it is requested 
by one-sixth of the active citizens in the communities below 
4,000 souls and by 150 active citizens in any of the other com- 
munities. 

25. The members of the municipal bodies of the cities, 
boroughs, parishes, or communities, shall be three in number, 
.including the mayor, when the population shall be less than 

500 souls; six, including the mayor, from 500 souls to 3,000; 
nine from 3,000 souls to 10,000; twelve from 10,000 to 25,- 
000; fifteen from 25,000 to 50,000; eighteen from 50,000 to 
100,000; twenty-one above 100,000 souls. As to the city of 
Paris, in consequence of its enormous population, it shall be 
governed by a special regulation which shall be given by the 
National Assembly upon the same basis and after the same 
principles as 'the general regulation for all the municipalities 
of the kingdom. 

26. There shall be in each municipality a communal pro- 
cureur without deliberative voice; he shall be charged to de- 
fend the interests and to prosecute the suits of the commu- 
nity. 

30. The active citizens of each community shall select, by 
a single scrutin de liste and plurality of the votes, a number 



26 Local Government Decrees 

of notables double that of the members of the municipal body. 
31. These notables shall form, with the members of the 
municipal body, the great council of the commune, and they 
shall be summoned only for important matters, as hereinafter 
provided. 

34. Each municipal body composed of more than three 
members shall be divided into a council and a bureau. 

35. The bureau shall be composed of a third of the mu- 
nicipal officers, including the mayor, who shall always make 
up part of it; the other two-thirds shall form the council. 

36. The members of the bureau shall be chosen by the 
municipal body every year and cannot be re-elected for a sec- 
ond year. 

2,T. The bureau shall be charged with all executive tasks 
and confined to simple administration. In the municipalities 
reduced to three members the executive function shall be en- 
trusted to the mayor alone. 

38. The municipal council shall assemble at least once per 
month ; it shall begin by agreeing upon the accounts of the 
bureau, when there is occasion ; and after that operation is 
completed, the members of the bureau shall have sitting and 
deliberative voice with those of the council. 

39. All the deliberations necessary for the discharge of 
the functions of fhe municipal body shall be taken in the 
united assembly of the members of the council and of the 
bureau, with the exception of deliberations relative to the 
closing of the accounts, which, as has been provided, shall 
be taken by the council alone. 

42. The municipal officers and the notables shall be elect- 
ed for two years and renewed each year by half. 

43. The mayor shall remain in ser\dce for two years ; he 
may be re-elected for two years ; but following that it 
shall not be permissible to elect him' again until after an in- 
terval of two years. 

45. The election assemblies for the annual renewals shall 
be held in all the kingdom the Sunday following Martinmas- 
day, upon the call of the municipal officers. 



Local Government Decrees 27 

49. The municipal bodies shall have two kinds of func- 
tions to fulfill ; one appertaining to the municipal authority ; 
the other appertaining to the general administration of the 
state and delegated by it to the municipalities. 

50. The functions appertaining to the municipal author- 
ity, under the surveillance and supervision of the administra- 
tive assemblies, are : to manage the common possessions and 
revenues of the cities, boroughs, parishes, and communities ; 
to control and to pay those local expenses which ought to be 
paid out of the common funds; to direct and to cause to be 
executed the public works which are under the charge of the 
community ; to administer the establishments which belong to 
the community and are maintained out of its funds or which 
are especially intended for the use of the citizens of whom it 
is composed; to cause the inhabitants to enjoy the advantages 
of a good police, especially for property, health, security, and 
tranquility in the streets, public places and buildings. 

51. The functions appertaining to the general administra- 
tion which can be delegated to the municipal bodies in order 
to be discharged under the authority of the administrative as- 
semblies are : the apportionment of the direct taxes among 
the citizens of whom the community is composed; the collec- 
tion of these taxes ; the deposit of these taxes in the coffers 
of the district or department ; the immediate direction of the 
public works within the jurisdiction of the municipality; the 
immediate management of the public establishments intended 
for general utility ; the surveillance and the agency necessary 
for the preservation of the public properties ; the direct over- 
sight of the works of repair and reconstruction of the church- 
es, parsonages, and other things related to the service of relig- 
ious worship. 

52. For the exercise of the functions belonging to or dele- 
gated to the municipal bodies, they shall have the right to 
make requisition for the necessary assistance of the national 
guards and other public forces as shall be more fully set forth. 

54. The general council of the commune, composed as 
well of the municipal body as of the notables, shall be con- 
voked whenever the municipal administration shall think 
proper. It cannot dispense with convoking it whien there 
are measures to be taken upon the acquisition or alienation of 



28 Local Government Decrees 

real estate, extraordinary taxes for local expenses, loans, 
public works, the employment of the proceeds of sales, re- 
imbursements or recoveries, suits to be instituted, even upon 
suits to be defended, in case the basis of the rights shall be 
contested. 

55. The municipal bodies shall be entirely subordinate to 
the department and district administrations for every thing 
which concerns the functions which they have to discharge 
by delegation of the general administration. 

56. As to the exercise of the functions appertaining to the 
municipal authority, none of the decisions for which the con- 
vocation of the general council of the commune is necessary, 
according to article 54 above, can be executed except with the 
approval of the department administration or directory, which 
shall be given, if there is occasion, upon the notification of the 
district administration or directory. 

57. All the accounts of the management of the municipal 
bureaus, after they have been received by the municipal coun- 
cil, shall be verified by the district administration or directory, 
and agreed to definitively by the department administration or 
directory, upon the notification of that of the district or of its 
directory. 

60. If a citizen believes himself to be personally injured 
by any act of the municipal body, he may set forth his mat- 
ters of complaint to the department administration or direct- 
ory, which shall do right therein, upon the notification of the 
district administration, which shall be charged with the veri- 
fication of the facts. 

61. Every active citizen may subscribe to and present 
against the municipal officers a denunciation of the adminis- 
trative offences of which he claims that they have rendered 
themselves guilty ; but prior to carrying this denunciation be- 
fore the tribunals, he shall be required to submit it to t"he de- 
partment administration or directory, which after having tak- 
en the opinion of the district administration or its directory, 
shall send the denunciation, if there be need, before the judges 
who must take jurisdiction of it. 

62. The active citizens have the right to meet peaceably 
and without arms in special assemblies, in order to draw up 
addresses and petitions to the municipal bod}^, or to the de- 



Local Government Decrees 29 

partment and district administrations, or to the legislative 
body, or to the king, under the condition of giving notice to 
the municipal officers of the time and the place of these as- 
semblies, and that not over ten citizens be deputed to bring 
and present these petitions and addresses. 

B. Decree upon the Departments and Districts. Decem- 
ber 22, 1789. Duvergier, Lois, I, 73-78. 

1. There shall be made a new division of the kingdom in- 
to departments, both for representation and administration. 
These departments shall be from seventy-five to eighty-five ir 
number. 

2. Each department shall be divided into districts, of 
which the number, which shall not be less than three nor more 
than nine, shall be determined by the National Assembly, ac- 
cording to the need and convenience of the department, after 
having heard the deputies of the provinces. 

3. Each district shall be divided into divisions called can- 
tons, of about four square leagues (common leagues of 
France). 

5. There shall be established at the head-town of each de- 
partment a higher administrative assembly, under the title of 
department administration. 

6. There shall likewise be established at the head-town of 
each district a subordinate administrative assembly, under the 
title of district administration. 

7. There shall be a municipality in each city, borough, 
parish or rural community. 



Section II. Of the formation and organization of the ad- 
ministrative assemblies. 

1. There shall be only one degree of election intermediate 
between the primary assemblies and the administrative as- 
semblies. 

2. After having selected the representatives to the Nation- 
al Assembly, the same electors in each department shall elect 
the members, to the number of twenty-six, who shall compose 
the' department administration. 



30 Local Government Decrees 

3. The electors of each district shall meet afterwards at 
the head-town of their district and shall there select the mem- 
bers, to the number of twelve, who shall compose the district 
administration. 

4. The members of the department administration shall be 
chosen from among the eligible citizens of all the cantons of 
the department, in such a manner, however, that there shall 
always be in that administration at least two members from 
each district. 

5. The members of the district administrations shall be 
chosen from among the eligible citizens of all the cantons of 
the district. 

6. In order to be eligible to the district and department 
administrations it shall be necessary to unite to the conditions 
requisite for active citizenship that of paying a larger direct 
tax and which amounts to at least the local value of ten days 
of labor. 

12. Each administration, whether department or district, 
shall be permanent and the members shall be renewed by half 
every two years ; the first time by lot, after the first two years 
of service, and afterwards by order of seniority. 

13. The members of the administrations shall thus be in 
office for four years, with the exception of those v/ho shall go 
out by lot at the first renewal after the first two years. 

20. Each department administration shall be divided into 
two sections, one under the title of department council, the 
other under that of department directory. 

21. The department council shall hold annually one ses- 
sion in order to determine the regulations for each part of the 
administration, to order the public works and the general ex- 
penses of the department, and to receive an account of the 
administration of the directory. The first session may be of 
six weeks, and that of the following years of a month at most. 

23. The members of each department administration shall 
elect, at the end of their first session, eight from among them- 
selves to compose the directory ; they shall renew these every 
year by a half. The president of the department administra- 
tion may be present and shall have the right to preside at all 



Local Government Decrees 31 

the sittings of the directory, which may, nevertheless, choose 
a vice-president. 

24. At the opening of each annual session, the department 
council shall begin by hearing, receiving, and agreeing to the 
account of the administration of the directory; afterwards the 
members of the directory shall take their seats and shall have 
deliberative voice with those of the council. 

27. Everything which is prescribed by articles 22, 23, and 
24 above, for the functions, the form of election and of re- 
newal, the right of sitting and of deliberative voice of the 
members of the department directory, shall likewise apply to 
those of the district directories. 

28. The district administrations and directories shall be 
entirely subordinate to the department administrations and 
directories. 

29. The district councils may hold their annual session 
for only fifteen days at most and the opening of this session 
shall precede by a month that of the department council. 

30. The district councils shall attend only to the prepara- 
tion of the requests to be made and the matters to be submit- 
ted to the department administration in the interest of the dis- 
trict, arrange for methods of execution, and receive the ac- 
counts of the administration of their directory. 

31. The district directories shall be charged with the ex- 
ecutive function within the extent of the jurisdiction of their 
district, under the direction and authority of the department 
administration and of its directory, and they cannot cause the 
execution of any orders of the district council in matters of 
general administration, unless approved by the department ad- 
ministration. 

Section III. Of the functions of the administrative as- 
semblies. 

I. The department administrations are charged, under the 
supervision of the legislative body and in virtue of its de- 
crees; 1st, with the apportionment of all the direct taxes im- 
posed upon each department ; this apportionment shall be made 
by the department administrations among the districts of 
their jurisdiction and by the district administrations among 
the municipalities ; 2d, to order and to cause to be made up, 



3^', Local Government Decrees 

according to the forms which shall be established, the assess'-' 
ment rolls of the taxpayers of each municipality; 3d, to reg-i 
ulate and to supervise everything which relates to both the 
collection and deposit of the product of these taxes and the 
service and functions of the agents who shall have charge of 
them ; 4th, to order and to cause to be executed the payment 
of the expenses which shall be allowed in each department 
out of the product of the same taxes. 

2. The department administrations shall be further 
charged, under the authority and supervision of the king, as 
supreme head of the nation and of the general administration 
of the kingdom, with all the parts of that administration, es- 
pecially with those which relate to: ist, the relief of paupers 
and the police regulation of mendicants and vagabonds ; 2d, 
the supervision and improvement of the management of hos- 
pitals, hotels-dieu, charitable establishments and workshops, 
prisons, jails, and houses of correction ; 3d, the supervision of 
public education and political and moral instruction ; 4th, the 
custody and employment of the funds set aside in each depart- 
ment for the encouragement of agriculture, industry, and ev- 
ery form of public beneficence ; 5th, the preservation of public 
property; 6th, forests, rivers, roads, and other public prop- 
erty; 7th, the direction and execution of work for the mak-: 
ing of highways, canals and other public works authorised 
in the department ; 8th, the maintenance, repair, and recon- 
struction of the churches, parsonages, and other things neces- 
sary for the service of religious worship ; gth, the mainte- 
nance of the public health, security, and tranquility; lOth, 
lastly, the disposal and employment of the national guards, as 
shall be regulated by special decrees. 

3. The district administrations shall participate in these 
functions, within the extent of the jurisdiction of each district 
only, under the interposed authority of the department ad- 
ministrations. 

4. The department and district administrations shall be 
always required to conform, in the exercise of all these func- 
tions, to the regulations established by the constitution and to 
the legislative decrees sanctioned by the king. 

5. The decisions of the department administrative assem- 
blies upon all the matters which shall concern the regime of 
the general administration of the kingdom or upon new un- 



Decree Abolishing Nobility 33 

dertakings and extraordinary works shall be executed only 
after having received the approval of the king. The special 
authorisation of the king shall not be necessary with respect 
to the despatch of local matters and anything which is carried 
out in virtue of decisions already approved. 

6. The department and district administrations shall not 
establish any tax, for any purpose or under any denomination 
whatsoever, by assessing anyone in excess of the sums and the 
time fixed by the legislative body ; nor make a.ny loan, unless 
authorised by it, except to provide for the establishment of 
suitable means to procure for themselves the necessary funds 
for the payment of the local debts and expenses and for im- 
perative and urgent needs. 

7. They cannot be disturbed in the exercise of their ad- 
ministrative functions by any act of the judicial power. 

8. From the day when the department and district admin- 
istrations shall be formed, the provincial-estates, the provin- 
cial assemblies, and the inferior assemblies which exist at pres- 
ent, shall be suppressed and shall entirely cease their func- 
tions. 

9. There shall not be any intermediary between the de- 
partment administrations and the supreme executive powers. 
The abolished commissioners, and the intendants and their 
sub-delegates, shall cease all functions as soon as the depart- 
ment administrations shall have entered into service. 

10. In the provinces which have had up to the present a 
common administration and which are divided among several 
departments, each department administration shall appoint 
two commissioners who shall meet together in order to effect 
the liquidation of the debts contracted under the preceding 
regime, to establish the apportionment of these debts among 
the different parts of the province and to finish up old busi- 
ness. The account thereof shall be rendered to an assembly 
formed of fc'ur other commissioners appointed by each de- 
partment administration. 



8, Decree for Abolishing the Nobility. 

June 19, 1790. Duvergier, Lois, I, 217-218. 

The French revolution was a social even more than a political 
i-evolution. On its social side it was marked by a passionate d^- 



34 Judicial System Decree 

sire for equality, i.e., tlie removal of inequalities created or sanc- 
tioned by the law. This decree is typical of many passed by th« 
Constituent Assembly for the purpose of removing legal sanction 
for social inequalities. 

Reference. Von Sybel, French Revolution, I, 238-241. 

1. Hereditary nobility is forever abolished; in conse- 
quence the titles of prince, duke, count, marquis, viscount, jj 
vid'ame, baron, knight, messire, ecuyer, noble, and all other ' 
similar titles, shall neither be taken by anyone whomsoever 
nor given to anybody. ~ 

2. A citizen may take only the true name of his family; 
no one may wear liveries nor cause them to be worn, nor 
have armorial bearings ; incense shall not be burned in the 
temples, except in order to honor the divinity, and shall not 
be offered for any one whomsoever. 

3. The titles of monseigneur and messeigneurs shall not 
be given to any society nor to any person, likewise the titles 
of excellency, highness, eminence, grace, etc.; nevertheless, 
no citizen, under pretext of the present decree, shall be per- 
mitted to make an attack on the monuments placed in the 
temples, the charters, titles and other tokens of interest to fam- 
ilies or properties, nor the decorations of any public or private 
place ; nevertheless, the execution of the provisions relative 
to the liveries and the arms placed upon carriages shall not 
be carried out nor demanded by any one whomsoever before 
the 14th of July for the citizens living in Paris and before 
three months for those who inhabit the country. 

4. No foreigners are included in the provision of the pres- 
ent decree ; they may preserve in France their liveries and 
their armorial bearings. 



9. Decree for Reorganizing the Judicial 
System. 

August 16, 1790. Duvergier, Lois, I, 310-333. 

One of the worst features of the old regime was its system 
for administering justice. This document, better than any othes 
one, exhibits the work of the Constituent Assembly in the field 
of judicial reform. Other important decrees are those of October 
8 and 9, 17S9, and of September 16 and 25, 1791, unfortunately 
too long to be included here. 



Judicial System Decree 35 

References. Stephens, French Revolution, I, 284-288 ; Cam- 
bridge Modern History, VIII, 206-207, 745-746 ; Lavisse and Ram- 
baud, Histoire gin^rale, VIII, 84-85 , 491-497 ; Rambaud, CiviUaa- 
tion contemporaine, 73-77. 

Title I. Of the Arbiters. 

I. Arbitration being the most reasonable means for the 
termination of disputes between citizens, the legislature shall 
not make any provision which may tend to diminish either 
the popularity or the efficiency of the compromise. 



Title II. Of the Judges in General. 

1. Justice shall be rendered in the name of the king. 

2. The sale of judicial offices is abolished forever; the 
judges shall render justice gratuitously and shall be salaried 
by the state. 

3. The judges shall be elected by the justiciable. 

4. They shall be elected for six years; at the expiration 
of this term a new election shall take place, in which the same 
judges may be re-elected. 

12. They shall not make regulations, but they shall have 
recourse to the legislative body, whenever they think neces- 
sary, either to interpret a law or to make a new one. 

13. The judicial functions are distinct and shall always 
remain separate from the administrative functions^ The 
judges, under penalty of forfeiture, shall not disturb in any 
manner whatsoever the operations of the administrative bod- 
ies, nor cite before them the administrators on account of 
their functions. 

14. In every civil or criminal matter, the pleadings, testi- 
mony, and decisions shall be public, and every citizen shall 
have the right to defend his own case, either verbally or in 
writing. 

15. Trial by jury shall occur in criminal matters; the ex- 
amination shall be made publicly and shall have the publicity 
•which shall be determined. 

16. All privilege in matters of jurisdiction is abolished ; 
all citizens, without distinction, shall plead in the same form 
and before the same judges in the same cases. 

17. The constitutional order of the jurisdictions shall not 



36 Judicial System Decree 

be disturbed, nor the justiciable removed from their natural 
judges, by any commission, nor by other attributions or evo- 
cations than those which are determined by the law. 

18. All citizens being equal before the law, and every 
preference for rank and the turn to be tried being an injustice, 
all suits, according to their nature, shall be tried when they 
have been examined in the order in which their trial shall 
have been applied for by the parties. 

19. The civil laws shall be reviewed and reformed by the 
legislatures; and there shall be made a general code of laws 
that are simple, clear, and in harmony with the constitution. 

20. The code of civil procedure shall be reformed forth- 
with in such a manner that it may be rendered more simple, 
more expeditious, and less expensive. 

21. The penal code shall be reformed forthwith in such 
a manner that the penalties may be proportionate to the of- 
fences ; taking good care that they be moderate and not 
losing sight of that maxim of the declaration of the rights of 
man that the law can establish only penalties zvhich are strict- 
ly and evidently necessary. 

Title III. Of the Justices of the Peace. 

I. There shall be in each canton a justice of the peace and 

prud'Jioimnes assessors of the justice of the peace. 

3. The justices of the peace may be chosen only from 
among the citizens eligible to the department and district ad- 
ministrations, fully thirty years of age, without any other con- 
dition of eligibility. 

4. The justices of the peace shall be elected, with individ- 
ual ballot and majority of the votes, by the active citizens met 
in primary assemblies. . . . 

6. The same electors shall select from among the active 
citizens of each muncipality, by scrntin de liste and plurality, 
four notables to perform the duties of assessors of the justice 
of the peace. This justice shall call upon those who shall be 
selected in the municipality of the place where there is need 
for their assistance. 



Judicial System Decree 37 

8. The justices of the peace and the prud'hommes shall 
be selected for two years and may be continued by re-election. 

9. The justice of the peace, assisted by two assessors, 
shall have jurisdiction by themselves over all cases dealing 
solely with persons and personal property, without appeal up to 
the value of fifty livres and subject to appeal up to the value 
of a hundred livres. . . . The legislature shall not raise the 
amount of this competency. 

ID. He has jurisdiction, likewise, without appeal up to the 
value of fifty livres and subject to appeal at whatever value 
the complainant can prove. 

. . . [Here follow six classes of additional civil actions.] 

12. The appeal from the judgments of the justice of the 
peace, when they are subject to appeal, shall be carried before 
the judges of the district and tried by them in the last resort 
in audience and summarily upon the simple writ of appeal. 



Title IV. Of the Judges of First Instance. 

I. There shall be established in each district a tribunal 
composed of five judges, with whom there shall be an officer 
charged with the functions of the public ministry. The sub- 
stitutes for them shall be four in number, of whom two at 
least shall be taken from within the city of the establishment 
or required to reside in it. 

4. The district judges shall have jurisdiction in the first 
instance over all personal, real estate, and mixed suits of ev- 
ery kind, except only those which have been declared above 
to be within the jurisdiction of the justices of the peace, com- 
mercial suits in the districts where there are no commercial 
tribunals established, and the litigious affairs of the municipal 
police. 

5. The district judges have jurisdiction in first and last 
resort over all suits involving persons and personal property, 
up to the value of a thousand livres of principal, and over real 
estate suits of which the chief item shall be of fifty livres of 
fixed income, either in rent or in lease price. 



38 Judicial System Decree 

Title V. Of the Judges of Appeal. 

I. The district judges shall be judges of appeal with re- 
spect to each other, according to the relations which shall 
be established in the following articles. 



Title X. Of the Peace Bureaux and the Family Tribunal. 

1. In all matters which shall exceed the competency of the 
justice of the peace, this justice and his assessors shall form 
a bureau of peace and conciliation. 

2. No principal action in civil matters shall be received 
before the district judges between parties who shall all be 
domiciled in the jurisdiction of the same justice of the peace, 
whether in the city or in the country, unless the plaintiff gives 
at the head of his writ a copy of the certificate of the peace 
bureau attesting that his opponent has been summoned to no 
purpose before this bureau or that it has employed its medi- 
ation without result. 



12. If any dispute arises between husband and wife, 
father and son, grand-father and grand-son, brothers and sis- 
ters, nephews and uncles, or between kinsmen of the above 
degrees, as also between pupils and their tutors in matters 
relative to their tutelage, the parties shall be required to ap- 
point kinsmen or, in their default, friends or neighbors, as 
arbiters before whom they shall explain their difference and 
who, after having heard them and having obtained the neces- 
sary knowledge, shall render a decision which includes a 
statement of the reasons for it. 

13. Each of the parties shall select two arbiters; and if 
one of them refuses, the other may apply to the judge, who, 
after having authenticated the refusal, shall appoint official 
arbiters for the refusing party. When the four arbiters find 
themselves divided in opinion they shall choose an umpire 
to remove the division. 

14. The party who believes himself injured by the arbitral 
decision may appeal to the district tribunal, which shall pro- 
nounce in the last resort. 



Letter to Foreign Courts 39 



Title XI, Of the Judges in Matters of Police. 

I, The municipal bodies within the precincts of each mu- 
nicipaHty shall look to and supervise the ^execution of the 
police laws and regulations, and shall have jurisdiction over 
the litigation to which this execution may give rise. 

5. Contraventions of the police regulations shall be pun- 
ished only by one of these two penalties, either by condemna- 
tion to a pecuniary penalty or imprisonment by way of cor- 
rection for a time which in the most serious cases shall not 
exceed three days in the country and eight days in the cities, 

6. Appeals from the judgments in police matters shall be 
carried to the tribunal of the district and these judgments 
shall be executed provisionally, notwithstanding the appeal 
and without prejudice to it. 



Title XII. Of the Judges in Matters of Commerce. 

1. There shall be established a commercial tribunal in the 
cities where the department administration, deeming these es- 
tablishments necessary, shall frame a request for them. 

2. This tribunal shall have jurisdiction of all commercial 
suits, both by land and sea, without distinction. 

7. The commercial judges shall be elected in the assembly 
of the merchants, bankers, traders, manufacturers, ship-owners 
and ship-captains of the city where the tribunal is established. 



10. Circular Letter of Louis XVI to Foreign 
Courts. 

April 23, 1791. ArcJiives parlemcntaires, XXV, 312-313. 

On April 18, 1791, Louis XVI was prevented from going to 
St. Cloud by the Paris crowds, who feared that he was trying to 
escape from the capital. This document, communicated to the 
Constituent Assembly as well as to the foreign courts, was ob- 
viously intended to quiet these fears and to conceal the king's 
preparations for flight. In connection with No. 12 A it did much 
to establish a firm belief in the king's insincerity. The views 
expressed, though certainly not the real views of the king, are of 



40 Letter to Foreign Courts 

interest, as substantially tliose of Frenchmen loyal to the king 
and the revolution alike. 

Refeebxce. Aulard, Revolution francaise, 116-117. 

The king charges me to inform you that it is his most 
express wish that you should make known his sentiments 
upon the French revolution and constitution at the court where 
you reside. The ambassadors a.nd ministers of France at all 
the courts of Europe are receiving the same directions, in or- 
der that there may not remain any doubt about the intentions 
of His Majesty, or about the free acceptance which he has 
given to the new form of government, or about his irrevocable 
oath to maintain it. 

His Majesty convoked the States-General of the kingdom 
and determined in his council that the commons should have 
in it a number of deputies equal to that of the other two or- 
ders which then existed. This act of provisional legislation, 
which the obstacles of the moment did not permit to be made 
more favorable, announced sufficiently the desire of His Maj- 
esty to re-establish the nation in all of its rights. 

The States-General met and took the title of National As- 
sembly; soon a constitution, "qualitied to secure the welfare of 
France and of the monarch, replaced the former order of 
things, in which the apparent power of the kingship only con- 
cealed the actual power of certain aristocratic bodies. 

The National Assembly adopted the form of representative 
government in conjunction with hereditary kingship. The leg- 
islative body was declared permanent ; the election of clergy- 
men, administrators, and judges was made over to the people; 
the executive power was conferred upon the king, the for- 
mation of the law upon the legislative body, a.nd the sanction 
upon the monarch. The public force, both internal and ex- 
ternal, was organized upon the same principles and in accord- 
ance with the fundamental basis of the distinction of the 
powers ; such is the new constitution of the kingdom. 

What is called the revolution is only the abolition of a 
multitude of abuses accumulated in the course of centuries 
through the error of the people or the authority of the minis- 
ters, which has never been the authority of the king. These 
abuses were not less disastrous to the monarch than to the 
nation ; under wise reigns authority had not ceased to attack 



Letter to Foreign Courts 41 

these abuses, but was not able to destroy them. They no 
longer exist; the sovereign nation has no longer any but citi- 
zens equal in right, no despot but the law, no organs except 
the public functionaries, and the king is the first of these 
functionaries ; such is the French revolution. 

It was bound to have as enemies all those who in the first 
moment O'f horror, on account of personal advantage, mourned 
for the abuses of the former government. Froim this comes 
the apparent division which has manifested itself within the 
kingdom, but which is enfeebled each day ; from this, also, 
perhaps, come some severe and exceptional laws which time 
will correct; but the king, whose real power is inseparable 
from that of the nation, who has no other ambition than the 
welfare of the people, nor any real authority other than that 
which is delegated to him ; the king was bound to agree with- 
out hesitation to a happy constitution which would regenerate 
at one and the same time his authority, the nation, and the 
monarchy. He has retained all his authority, except the re- 
doubtable power to make the laws ; he remains in charge of 
the negotiations with foreign powers, the task of defending 
the kingdom and of repulsing its enemies ; but the French na- 
tion henceforth will not have any enemies abroad except its 
aggressors. It no longer has internal enemies except those 
who, still nourishing foolish hopes, believe that the will of 
24,000,000 men entered again upon their natural rights, after 
having organized the kingdom in such a manner that only 
the memory of the old forms and former abuses remains, is 
not an immovable and irrevocable constitution. 

The most dangerous of these enemies are those who seek 
to spread doubts as to the intentions of the monarch ; these 
men are indeed culpable or blind ; they believe themselves the 
friends of the king; they are the only enemies of the mon- 
archy; they would have deprived the monarch of the love 
and confidence of a great nation, if his principles and probity 
had been less known. Ah ! what has the king not done to 
show that he counts both the French revolution and the con- 
stitution among his titles to glory. After having accepted and 
sanctioned all the laws, he has not neglected any means to 
cause them to be executed. Even in the month of February 
last in the midst of the National Assembly, he promised to 
maintain them. ; he took an oath thereto in the presence of the 



42 Letter to Foreign Courts 

general federation of the kingdom. Honored with the title 
of Restorer of French Liberty, he will transmit more than a 
crown to his son ; he will transmit to him a constitutional 
monarchy. 

The enemies of the constitution do not cease to repeat that 
the king is not happy, as if there could be for the king any 
other happiness than that of the people ! They say that his 
authority is dishonored; as if authority founded upon force 
was not less powerful and more uncertain than the authority 
of the law ! In fine, that the king is not free : an atrocious 
calumny, if it is supposed that his will could be forced ; an 
absurd one, if they take as lack of liberty the consent that 
His Majesty has several times expressed to remain in the 
midst of the citizens of Paris, a consent which he was bound 
to concede to their patriotism, even to their fears, and espec- 
ially to their love. 

These calumnies, however, have penetrated even into for- 
eign courts ; they have been repeated there by Frenchmen who 
have voluntarily exiled themselves from their fatherland, in- 
stead of sharing its glory, and who, if they are not its ene- 
mies, have at least abandoned their posts as citizens. The king 
charges you, sir, to defeat their intrigues and their plans. 
These same calumnies, in spreading false ideas about the 
French revolution, have caused the intentions of French trav- 
elers to be suspected among several neighboring nations ; and 
the king especially recommends that you protect and defend 
them. Give, sir, the idea of the French constitution which 
the king himself has formed ; do not allow there to be any 
doubt about the intention of His Majesty toi maintain it with 
all his power. In assuring the liberty and equality of the citi- 
zens, that constitution founds the national prosperity upon th^ 
most enduring basis; it consolidates the royal authority 
through the laws; it forestalls by a glorious revolution the 
revolution which the abuses of the former government would 
have soon caused to break forth, thus causing perhaps the dis- 
solution of the kingdom. Finally, it will be the happiness of 
the king. The task of justifying it, defending it, and of tak- 
ing it for the rule of your conduct, must be your first duty. 

I have already expressed several times the sentiments of 
His Majesty in this matter; but after what has been reported 
to him of the opinion which is sought to be established in for- 



Decree on Trades and Professions 43 

eign countries upon what has taken place in France, he has 
ordered me to charge you to communicate the contents of this 
letter to the court at which you are; and in order to give it 
the utmost publicity, His Majesty has just ordered the print- 
ing of it. 

Signed, Montmorin. 

Paris, April 23, 1791. 



11. Decree upon the Organization of Trades 
and Professions. 

June 14, 1791. Duvergier, Lois, III, 22. 

By a decree of March 2, 1791, the Constituent Assembly abol- 
'Ished all of the vocation monopolies of the old regime and laid 
down the principle that "every person shall be free to engage in 
such business or to practice such profession, art or craft as he 
shall find profitable." This document is the comnlement of that 
decree. In it may be seen the intense feeling against the old vo- 
cation monopolies and the determination to secure an absolutely 
free field for individual activity. 

Reference. Jaurfes, Histoire socialiste, I, 605-630. 

1. The suppression of all sorts of corporations of the cit- 
izens of the same calling and profession being one of the fun- 
damental bases of the French constitution, the re-establish- 
ment of them under any pretext or any form whatsoever is 
forbidden. 

2. Citizens of a like calling or profession, employers, shop- 
keepers, workers and journeymen of a certain trade, shall 
not, when they shall meet together, .name a president, or sec- 
retaries, or syndics, nor keep registers, nor pass resolutions 
or make decisions, nor form regulations for their so-called 
common interests. 

3. All the administrative or municipal bodies are forbid- 
den to receive any address or petition under the denomination 
of a calling or profession or to make any response to such ; 
and they are enjoined to declare void the deliberations which 
may have been taken in that manner and to see to it, care- 
fully that no effect or execution be given to them. 

4. If, contrary to the principles of liberty and the consti- 
tution, citizens engaged in the same professions, arts and 
crafts, should hold deliberations or should make among them- 



44 Decree on Trades and Professions 

selves agreements which aim at refusing in concert or grant- 
ing only at a settled price the assistance of their skill or their 
labors, the said decisions and agreements, whether accompa- 
nied by an oath or not, are declared unconstitutional, attacks 
upon liberty and the declaration of the rights of man, and of 
no effect; the administrative and municipal bodies shall be 
required to declare them such. The authors, leaders and in- 
stigators who shall have provoked, drafted, or presided over 
them, shall be cited before the police tribunal, at the request 
of the procureur of the commune, condemned to a fine of 
five hundred livres each and suspended from all the rights 
of active citizenship and of entrance into the primary assem- 
blies. 

5. All administrative and municipal bodies are forbidden, 
on penalty of their members responding for it in their own 
names, to employ, to admit or suffer to be admitted to the 
labors of their professions in any public works those of the 
employers, workers, and journeymen who shall have sug- 
gested or signed the said deliberations or agreements, except 
in case they have of their own motion presented themselves at 
the clerk's office of the police tribunal in order to retract or 
disavow them. 

6. If the said deliberations or summons, posted placards 
or circular letters, contain any threats against the employers, 
artisans, workers, or foreign journeymen who shall come to 
work in the place, or against those who shall content them- 
selves with a lower compensation, all authors, instigators, and 
signatories of the documents or writings shall be punished by 
a fine of a thousand livres each and three months in prison. 

7. Those who shall use threats or violence against work- 
ers who use the liberty granted by the constitutional laws to 
labor and skill shall be prosecuted in a criminal way and pun- 
ished according to the severity of the laws as disturbers of 
the public peace. 

8. All mobs composed of artisans, workers, journeymen, 
day laborers, or those incited by them against the free exer- 
cise of skill and labor, appertaining to every sort of person 
and under every kind of condition, arranged by mutual agree- 
ment, or against the action of the police and the execution of 
the judgments rendered in this matter, as well as against pub- 
lic sales and auctions of various sorts, shall be deemed 



The King's Flight 45 

seditious mobs and as such shall be dispersed by the deposito- 
ries of the public force, upon the legal requisition which shall 
be made upon them, and punished according to all the sever- 
ity of the laws upon the authors, instigators and leaders 
of the said mobs, and all those who shall have committed the 
real acts and deeds of violence. 



12. Documents upon the King's Flight. 

The flight of Louis XVI to Varennes was one of the most de- 
cisive events of the revolution. Historical interest in it lies main- 
ly along two lines. (1) It inspired a widespread distrust of the 
king which none of his subsequent professions or actions could 
remove. A careful perusal of document A, especially if taken in 
conjunction with No. 10 and the reply of the assembly to the 
king's manifesto (See Legg's Helect Documents, II, 62-68) will reveal 
the reason for this distrust. (2) The absence of the king forced up- 
on the Constituent Assembly the task of devising a temporary gov- 
ernment : the regime then established had a large influence in 
determining the form of government after the deposition of the 
king in 1792. Documents B to I, selected from a large number 
of decrees, show the attitude of the .assembly during the crisis and 
exhibit the character of the temporary government. 

References. Stephens, French Revolution, I, Ch. xv ; Cam- 
hridfje Modern History, VIII, 198-201 ; Aulard, Revolution fran- 
caise. Part I, Ch. v. 

A. The King's Declaration. June 20, 1791. Proces- 
verbal de I'Assemblec Nationale, June 21, 1791, I suite, 5-23. 

As long as the king could hope to see order and the wel- 
fare of the kingdom rise again through the means employed 
by the National Assembly, and by his residence near that as- 
sembly in the capital of the kingdom, no personal sacrifice was 
too expensive ; he would not even have asserted the nullity 
with which all proceedings since the month of October, 1789, 
are involved, owing to his complete lack of liberty, if that 
hope had been fulfilled ; but today when the only recompense 
for so many sacrifices is to see the destruction of the mon- 
archy, all authority held in contempt, property violated, the 
security of person everywhere placed in danger, crimes re- 
maining unpunished, and a complete anarchy established above 
the laws, without even the prospect that the authority which 
the new constitution gives him will be sufficient to repair even 
one of the evils which afflict the kingdom ; the king, after 
having solemnly protested against all the acts emanating from 



46 ' The King's Flight 

him during his captivity, believes that he ought to put before 
the eyes of the French and all the vi^orld a picture of his con- 
duct and that of the government which is established in the 
kingdom. 

■ . . . [In the omitted passage the king reviews the events of 
July and October, 1789, and complains of the condition of 
the Tuileries and of the replacement of his old body guard by 
a detachment of the Parisian national guards, declaring that 
he was thereby virtually made a prisoner.] 

But the more the king made sacrifices for the welfare of 
his people, the more the factious labored to depreciate the 
value thereof, and to represent the monarchy under the most 
false and odious colors. 

The calling of the States-General, the doubling of the dep- 
uties of Third Estate, the efforts which the king made to clear 
up the difficulties which might delay the meeting of the States- 
General, and those which arose after its opening, all the re- 
trenchments which the king made in his personal expenditure, 
all the sacrifices which he made for his people in the session 
of June 23, finally the union of the orders, brought about by 
the expression of the king's desire, a measure which His 
Majesty then judged indispensable for the inauguration of 
the States-General: all his anxiety, all his efforts, all his gen- 
erosity, all his devotion to his people, all have been disparaged, 
all have been misconstrued. 

The time when the States-General, assuming the name of 
the National Assembly, began to busy itself with the consti- 
tution of the kingdom, calls to mind the memoirs which the 
factious were cunning enough to cause to be sent from several 
provinces and the movements of Paris to cause the deputies to 
disregard one of the principal clauses contained in all their 
cahiefs, which provided that the making of the laws should 
be done in concert with the king. In defiance of that clause, 
the assembly put the king entirely outside the constitution, 
in refusing to him' the right to grant or to withhold his sanc- 
tion to the articles which it regarded as constitutional, while 
reserving to itself the right to reckon in that class those which 
it thought belonged there, and by restraining for those regard- 
ed a& purely legislative the royal prerogative to a right of 
suspierision until the third legislature; a purely illusory right, 
as so many examples prove only too fully. 



The King's Flight 47 

What remains to the king, beyond the vain similitude of 
royal power? . . . 

Let the different parts of the government be examined in 
turn. 

Justice. The king has ,no share in the making of the laws ; 
he has only the right to put a stop to those whose purpose is 
not regarded as constitutional until the third legislature, and 
that of praying the National Assembly to busy itself with 
such and such matters, without having the right to make a 
formal proposition thereon. Justice is rendered in the name 
of the king, . . . but it is only a matter of form, . . . One of 
the latest decrees of the assembly has deprived the king of one 
of the fairest prerogatives everywhere attached to royal pow- 
er, that of pardoning and commuting penalties. . . . Hov/ 
much, moreover, that diminishes the royal majesty in the eyes 
of the people so long accustomed to have recourse to the king 
in their needs and in their difficulties, and to see in him the 
common father who can relieve their afflictions ! 

Internal administration. It is entirely in the hands of the 
departments, districts, and municipalities, too many author- 
ities, who clog the movement of the machine and often thwart 
each other. All these bodies are elected by the people, and 
have no relations with the government, according to the de- 
crees, except for their execution and for those special orders 
which are issued in consequence thereof. , . . 

Finances. The king had declared, even before the meeting 
of the States-General, that he recognized in the assemblies of 
the nation the right to grant subsidies, and that he no longer 
desired to tax the people without their consent. All the 
cahiers of the deputies to the States-General were agreed in 
placing the re-establishment of the finances in the first rank 
among the matters with which that assembly must busy it- 
self; some imposed restrictions in favor of articles to be pre- 
viously acted upon. The king removed the difficulties which 
these restrictions might have occasioned by going forward 
himself and granting, in the session of June 23, everything 
which had been desired. . . . 

This form of government, so vicious in itself, becomes 
still more so for these reasons, ist. The assembly, by means 
of its committees, constantly exceeds the limits which it pre- 
scribes for itself; it busies itself with mattiers which deal only 



48 The King's Flight 

with the internal administration of the kingdom, and with that 
of justice, and thus gathers up all authority; it also exercis- 
es, through its investigating committee, a veritable despot- 
ism, more barbarous and insufferable than any of those of 
which history has ever made mention. 2d. There are estab- 
lished in almost all of the cities, and even in many towns 
and villages, associations known under the name of Friends 
of the Constitution : contrary to the tenor of the decrees, 
they do not suffer any others to exist which are not affiliated 
with them ; thus they form an immense corporation, more 
dangerous than any of those which formerly existed. With- 
out being authorised thereto, but even in defiance of the de- 
crees, they deliberate upon all questions of government, cor- 
respond among themselves upon all matters, make and re- 
ceive complaints, post decrees, and have acquired such a pre- 
ponderance that all the administrative and judicial bodies, 
not even excepting the National Assembly itself, almost al- 
ways obey their orders. 

The king does not think that it would be possible to gov- 
ern a kingdom of so great extent and importance as France 
through the means established by the National Assembly, as 
they exist at present. His Majesty, in granting to all the de- 
crees without distinction the sanction, which he well knew 
could not be refused, was induced thereto by the desire to 
avoid all discussion, which experience had shown to be at 
least useless; he feared, moreover, that it would be thought 
he desired to retard or to bring about the failure of the la- 
bors of the National Assembly, to whose success the nation 
attached so great an interest ; he put his confidence in the 
wise men of that assembly. . . . 

But the nearer we see the assembly approach the end of 
its labors, the more we see the wise men lose their credit, 
the more we see increased measures which make difficult or 
even impossible the carrying on of the government and create 
for it lack of confidence and disfavor; other regulations, in- 
stead of applying balm to the wounds which still bleed in 
many provinces only increase the uneasiness and provoke dis- 
content. The spirit of the clubs dominates and invades every- 
thing; thousands of calumniating and incendiary newspapers 
and pamphlets, which increase daily, are only their echoes 
and prepare men to become what they wish them to be. The 



The King's Flight 49 

National Assembly has never dared to remedy that license, 
so far removed from true liberty; it has lost its credit, and 
even the force of which it would have need in order to turn 
upon its steps and to change that which would seem to it well 
to correct. We see by the spirit which reigns in the clubs, 
and the manner in which they make themselves masters of 
the new primary assemblies, what must be expected from 
them; and if they allow to become perceptible any inclinations 
to turn back upon any matter, it is in order to destroy the re- 
mainder of the monarchy and establish a metaphysical and 
philosophic government impossible to put into operation. 

Frenchmen, is that what you intended in sending your rep- 
resentatives to the National Assembly? do you desire that 
the anarchy and despotism of the clubs should replace the 
monarchical government under which the nation has pros- 
pered for fourteen hundred years? do you desire to see your 
king covered with injuries, and deprived of his liberty, while 
he is occupied only with the establishment of yours? 

Love for their kings is one of the virtues of the French, 
and His Majesty has received personally too many proofs 
thereof to be able ever to forget them. The factious know 
well that as long as this love abides, their work can never 
achieve success ; they know, likewise, that in order to enfeeble 
that it is necessary, if it be possible, to destroy the respect 
which has always accompanied it; and that is the source of 
the outrages which the king has received during the past two 
years, and of all the evils which he has suffered. His Majesty 
would not trace here the distressing picture of them, if he did 
not desire to make known to his faithful subjects the spirit 
of these factions who rend the bosom of the fatherland, while 
feigning to wish its regeneration. . . . 

In view of all these reasons and the impossibility for the 
king, from the position in which he is placed, effecting the 
good and preventing the levil which is perpetrated, is it aston- 
rshing that the king has sought to recover his liberty and to 
put himself and his family in safety? 

Frenchmen, and especially Parisians, you inhabitants of 
a city which the ancestors of His Majesty were pleased to call 
the good city of Paris, distrust the suggestions and lies of 
your false friends; return to your king; he will always be 
your father, your best friend : what pleasure will he not 



50 The King's Flight 

take in forgetting all his personal injuries, and in beholding 
himself again in the midst of you, when a constitution, which 
he shall have freely accepted, shall cause your religion to be 
respected, the government to be established upon a firm foot- 
ing and made useful by its operation, the property and status 
of each person no longer disturbed, the laws no longer vio- 
lated with impunity, and, finally, liberty founded upon firm 
and immovable foundations. 

Signed, Louis. 

Paris, June 20 1791. 

The king forbids his ministers signing any order in his 
name, until they receive further orders ; he commands the 
keeper of the seal of the state to send it to him, as soon as may 
be required on his part. 

Signed, Louis. 

Paris, June 20, 1791. 

B. Decree for the Arrest of the King. June 21, 1791. 
Duvergier, Lois, III, 53. 

The National Assembly orders that the minister of the 
interior shall immediately send couriers into all the depart- 
ments, with orders to all the public functionaries and the 
national guards or troops of the line of the kingdom, to ar- 
rest or cause the arrest of all persons whomsoever leaving 
the realm, as well as to prevent all removal of goods, arms, 
munitions of war, and every species of gold, silver, horses, 
vehicles and munitions of war; and, in case the said couriers 
should encounter any persons of the royal family and those 
who may have assisted in their removal, the said public 
functionaries or national guards and troops of the line shall 
be required to take all the necessary measures to stop the 
said removal, to prevent them from continuing their route, 
and to render account of everything to the legislative body. 

C. Decree for the Maintenance of Public Order. June 
21, 1791. Duvergier, Lois, III, 52. 

The National Assembly declares to the citizens of Paris 
and to all the inhabitants of the kingdom, that the same 
firmness which it has exhibited in the midst of all the diffi- 
culties that have attended its labors will control its delibera- 



The King's Flight 51 

tions upon the occasion of carrying away the king and the roy- 
al family. It notifies all citizens that the maintenance of the 
constitution and the safety of the empire have never more 
imperatively demanded good order and public tranquility; 
that the National Assembly has taken the most energetic meas- 
ures to follow the traces of those who have made themselves 
guilty of carrying away the king and the royal family ; that, 
without interrupting its sittings, it will employ every means in 
order that the public interest may not suffer from that event; 
that all citizens ought to rely entirely upon it for the arrange- 
ments which the safety of the kingdom may demand ; and that 
everything which may excite trouble, alarm individuals, or 
menace property, would be all the more culpable since thereby 
liberty and the co.nstitution might be compromised. 

It orders that the citizens of Paris hold themselves in read- 
iness to act for the maintenance of public order and the de- 
fence of the fatherland, in accordance with the orders which 
will be given them in conformity with the decrees of the Na- 
tional Assembly. 

It orders the department administrators and the municipal 
officers to cause the present decree to be promulgated immedi- 
ately and to look with care to the public tranquility. 

D. Decree for Giving Effect to the Measures of the As- 
sembly. June 21, 1791. Duvergier, Lois, III, 53. 

The National Assembly decrees as follows : 

1. The decrees of the Natio.nal Assembly already rendered 
which may not have been sanctioned or accepted by the king, 
as well as the decrees to be rendered which cannot be sanc- 
tioned or accepted, by reason of the absence of the king, shall 
nevertheless bear the name and have within the entire extent 
of the kingdom the force of laws, and the customary formula 
shall continue to be employed for them. 

2. The minister of justice is commanded to affix the seal 
of the state, without any need of the sanction or the 
acceptance of the king, and to sign the drafts of the de- 
crees which must be deposited in the .national archives and in 
those of the chancellery, as well as the copies of the laws 
which must be sent to the tribunals and administrative bodies. 

3. The ministers are authorised to meet in order to for- 



5^ . The King's Flight 

mulate and sign collectively proclamations and other acts of 
the same nature. 

E. Decree in regard to Foreign Affairs. June 21, 1791. 
Duvergier, Lois, III, 52. 

The National Assembly, the king absent, orders that the 
minister of foreign affairs shall make known to the ambassa- 
dors and ministers of foreign powers residing at present in 
Paris, as well as the ambassadors of France in foreign states 
and kingdoms, the desire of the French nation to continue 
with the said states and kingdoms the relation of friendship 
and good understanding which has existed up to the presemt 
and shall inform the said ambassadors and residents for the 
powers, that they ought to remit to M. Montraorin the of- 
ficiail notes with which, they are charged on the; part of the 
respective princes and states. 

F. Decree for calling out the National Guards. June 21, 
1791. Duvergier, Lois, III, 52-53. 

I. The national guards of the kingdom shall be called 
into service, according to the arrangements set forth in the fol- 
lowing articles. 

2-3. [Provided for calling out two to three thousand or 
more from each department.] 

4. In consequence, all citizens and sons of citizens in con- 
dition to bear arms, and those who wish to take them for the 
defence of the state and the maintenance of the constitution, 
shall cause themselves to be enrolled immediately after the 
publication of the present decree, each in his municipality, 
which shall send at once the list of the enrolled to the com- 
missioners whom the directory of the department shall ap- 
point, either from among the members of the general council 
or the other citizens, in order to proceed to the formation. 



G. Decree upon the Oath of Allegiance. June 22, 1791. 
Duvergier, Lois, III, 55. 

The National Assembly decrees as follows : 



The King's Flight 53 

1. That the oath ordered on June 11 and 13, the present 
month, shall be taken in the following form : 

"I swear to employ the arms placed in my hands for the 
defence of the fatherland and to maintain against all its ene- 
mies within and without the constitution decreed by the Na- 
tional Assembly ; to perish rather than to suffer the invasion 
of French territory by foreign troops, and to obey only the 
orders which shall be given in consequence of the decrees of 
•the National Assembly." 

2. That commissioners, taken from within the body of the 
assembly, shall be sent into the frontier departments in order 
to receive there the above-mentioned oath, a record of which 
shall be drawn up, and to concert there with the administrative 
bodies and the commanders of the troops the measures which 
they think suitable for the maintenance of public order and 
the security of the state, and to make for that purpose all 
the necessary requisitions. 



H. Decree upon the Commissioners from the Assembly. 
June 24, 1791. Duvergier, Lois, III, 63. 

The National Assembly decrees as follows : 
I. The civil commissioners whom it has sent into the 
frontier provinces, if circumstances demand it, shall make all 
necessary requisitions to the administrative and municipal 
bodies for the purpose of procuring for the generals of the 
army the national guards of whom they may have need for 
co-operation with the military service. 



I. Decree concerning the King. June 24, 1791. Duvergier, 
Lois, III, 64. 

I. As soon as the king shall have arrived at the chateau 
of the Tuileries he shall temporarily be given a guard, which, 
under the orders of the commanding general of the Parisian 
national guard, shall look after his security and shall be re- 
sponsible for his person. 

5. Until it shall have been otherwise ordered, the decree 
rendered on the 21st of this month, which ordered the min- 



54 The King's Flight 

ister of justice to affix the seal of the state to the decrees of 
the National Assembly, without needing the sanction or the 
acceptance of the king, shall continue to be carried out in all 
of its provisions. 

6. The ministers, the director of the public treasury, un- 
til the entrance into office of the commissioners of the na- 
tional treasury, the commissioner of the king for the extra- 
ordinary and liquidation fund, are likewise authorised pro- 
visionally to continue to perform each in his own department 
and under his responsibility, the functions of the execu- 
tive power. 

J. The Protest of the Right. June 29, 1791. Buchez and 
Roux, Histoire parlenieniaire, X, 433-437. 

The decrees of the National Assembly have united in it the 
whole royal power : the seal of the state has been deposited 
upon its table; its decrees are rendered executory withouit hav- 
ing need of sanction; it gives direct orders to all the agents 
of the executive power; it causes to be taken in its name 
oaths in which Frenchmen do not even find the name of their 
king; commissioners who have received their commission 
from it alone travel over the provinces in order to receive the 
oaths which it requires and to give orders to the army; thus 
at the moment in which the inviolability of the sacred person 
of the monarch has been annihilated, the monarchy has been 
destroyed and even the semblance of royalty no longer exists : 
a republican interim is substituted for it. 

K. Decree concerning the King. July 16, 1791. Duver- 
g\tv, Lois, III, 111-112. 

1. If the king, after having taken his oath to the consti- 
tution, retracts it, he shall be considered to have abdicated. 

2. If the king puts himself at the head of an army in 
order to direct its forces against the nation, or, if he orders 
his generals to carry into effect such a project, or finally, if 
he does not by a formal act put himself in opposition to any 
action of that sort which may be conducted in his name, he 
shall be considered to have abdicated. 



The Padua Circular 55 

3. A king who shall have abdicated, or who shall be con- 
sidered to have done so, shall become a simple citizen and 
he shall be accusable, according to the customary forms, for 
all offences subsequent to his abdication. 

4. The effect of the decree of the 24th of last month, 
which suspends the exercise of the royal functions and the 
functions of the executive power in the hands of the king, 
shall continue only until the moment when, the constitution 
being completed, the entire constitutional act shall have been 
presented to the king. 



13. The Padua Circular. 



July 5 or 6, 1791. VIvenot, KaiserpoUtik Oeaterreicha, I, 185- 
186. 

This circular letter to the principal sovereigns of Europe was 
sent by the Emperor, Leopold II, as soon as he learned of the fail- 
ure of the Ring's flight. It was only the amplification of ideas 
which he had already broached in less formal communications. 
In France there was suspicion that efforts were being made to 
form such a concert as the circular suggests, but this document 
was kept a profound secret. None of the powers responded favor- 
ably, except Prussia. 

References. Clapham, Causen of the War of 1792, 48-57 ; 
Sorel, L'Europe et la revolution francaise, II, 228-230. 

I am persuaded that Your Majesty will have learned of 
the unprecedented outrage of the arrest of the King' of 
France, of my sister the queen, and of the royal family, with 
as much surprise and indignation as I have, and that your 
sentiments cannot differ from mine upon an event which, 
causing fear of the most horrible results yet to come and im- 
planting the seal of illegality upon the excesses which have 
previously taken place in France, compromises directly the 
honor of all the sovereigns and the safety of all the govern- 
ments. 

Determined to carry into effect what I owe to these con- 
siderations, and as head of the Germanic body by its selection, 
and as sovereign of the Austrian states, I propose to the 
kings of Spain, England, Prussia, Naples, and Sardinia, as 
well as to the Empress of Russia, to determine to unite among 
themselves and with me for counsel, co-operation and meas- 



56 The Padua Circular 

ures, in order to restore the liberty and honor of the Most 
Christian King and of his family and to put limits to the dan- 
gerous extremities of the French revolution. 

The most pressing [measure] seems to be that we should 
all unite in order to cause to be delivered by our ministers in 
France a common declaration, or similar and simultaneous 
declarations, which may cause the leaders, of the violent party 
to come to themselves and may prevent desperate resolutions, 
still leaving open to them ways for an honest repentance and 
the pacif c establishment of a state of things in France which 
preserves at least the dignity of the crown and the essential 
considerations of the general tranquility, and I propose for 
that purpose to Your Majesty the draft which you will find 
annexed and which appears to me to accomplish these aims. 

But as the success of such a declaration may be problem- 
atical, and as one can promise complete success only on con- 
dition of being ready to sustain it by sufficiently respectable 
means, my minister to Your Majesty will receive immediately 
the necessary instructions to enter with your minister upon 
such concert of vigorous measures as the circumstances may 
demand, reserving to myself to cause him to communicate 
also the replies which I shall receive from the other powers, 
as soon as they shall have reached me. 

I regard as an infinitely precious advantage that the dis- 
positions which they all manifest for the re-establishment of 
repose and harmony promise to remove the obstacles which 
might be injurious to a unanimity of views and sentiments 
about an occurrence which involves closely the well being of 
all Europe. 

Signed, Leopold. 

Project of the Common Declaration. 

Padua, July 5 or 6. 1791. 

The undersigned are charged to make known what follows 
on the part of their respective sovereigns : 

That, notwithstanding the notorious deeds of constraint 
and violence which have preceded and followed the acts of 
consent granted by the King of France to the decrees of the 
National Assembly, they had nevertheless still wished to sus- 
pend their opinion upon the degree to which that consent 
represented or did .not represent the conviction and free will 



The Declaration of Pilnitz 57 

of His Most Christian Majesty; but the effort undertaken by 
that prince to set himself at liberty, being a most manifest 
proof of the state of confinement in which he formerly found 
himself, no longer left any doubt that he had been made to do 
violence to his religion in several respects, at the same time 
that the last attack in his actual arrest and that of the queen, 
the dauphin and Madame Elizabeth, inspires just alarms 
about the ultimate projects of the dominant party; 

That the said sovereigns cannot delay any longer to mani- 
fest the sentiments and resolutions which in this state of 
things the honor of their crowns, the ties of blood, and the 
maintenance of the public order and tranquility of Europe re- 
quire of them: they have ordered their undersigned ministers 
to declare : 

That they ask that this prince and his family may be im- 
mediately put at liberty and they claim for all these royal per- 
sons the inviolability and respect which the law of .nature 
and men imposes upon subjects toward their princes; 

That they will unite in order to avenge in a striking man- 
ner subsequent attacks which may be committed or may be 
allowed to be committed against the security, the person and 
honor of the king, queen, and royal family ; 

That, finally, they will recognize as law and constitution 
legally established in France only those which they shall find 
provided with the voluntary consent of the king, in enjoy- 
ment of a perfect liberty; but that in the contrary case, they 
will employ in concert all the means placed in their power to 
cause to cease the scandal of a usurpation of power which 
bears the character of an open revolt, and of which it is im- 
portant for all governments to check the disastrous example. 



14. The Declaration of Pilnitz. 

August 27, 1791. Vivenot, Katserpolitik Oesterreichs, I, 234. 
Translation, James Harvey Robinson, University of Pennsylvania 
Translations and Reprints. 

This document was a direct result of No. 13. It seems certain 
that the signatories, the sovereigns of Austria and Prussia, at- 
tached but little importance to it. For them the qualifying words 
were the emphatic ones. This, however, was not thoroughly un- 
derstood in France, and a little later the declaration was an im- 
portant factor in persuading the French people that they must 
fight Europe in order to prevent interference with the course of 
the revolution in France. 



58 Constitution of 1791 

References. Clapham, Cmn^es of the War of 1792, 76-82 ; 
Leckv. Enfilandin the Eighteentti Century, V, 556-558 (French Revo- 
lution, 326-328, 56!:)): Yon ^ybni. French Revolution, '&61-'6i3>i ; Cam- 
bridge Modern History, VIII, 398-3!;'!.> ; Sorel, L'Furope et la revolu- 
tion francaise, II, 252-264. 

His Majesty, the Emperor, and his Majesty, the King of 
Prussia, having given attention to the wishes and representa- 
tions of Monsieur (the brother of the King of France), and 
of M. le Comte d'Artois, jointly declare that they regard the 
present situation of His Majesty the King of France, as a 
matter of common interest to all the sovereigns of Europe. 
They trust that this interest vv^ill not fail to be recognized by 
the powers, whose aid is solicited, and that in consequence 
they will not refuse to employ, in conjunction with their said 
majesties, the most efficient means in proportion to their re- 
sources to place the King of France in a position to establish, 
with the most absolute freedom, the foundations of a monar- 
chical form of government, which shall at once be in harmony 
with the rights of sovereigns and promote the welfare of the 
French nation. In that case [Alors et dans ce cas^ their said 
majesties the Emperor and the King of Prussia are resolved 
to act promptly and in common accord with the forces neces- 
sary to obtain the desired common end. 

In the meantime they will give such orders to their troops 
as are necessary in order that these may be in a position to be 
called into active service. 

Leopold. Frederick William. 

Pilnitz, August 27, 1791. 



15. Constitution of 1791. 

September 3, 1791. Duvergier, Lois, III, 239-255. 

This constitution represents a large part of the labors of the 
Constituent Assembly. Many of its provisions had already been 
put into operation by separate decrees. It was given its final 
Shane during the ten weeks following the return of the king to 
Paris and shows many traces of the conservative reaction of that 
period. A careful study of it will throw light upon many features 
of the revolution. 

References. Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire penerale VIII, 
73-79 : Cambridge Modern History VIII, 176-183. 18'6-189. 200-210. 
Of contemporary estimates the most famous are Burke's Reflections 
on the Revolution in Prance (a strongly adverse view), and Mack- 
intosh's reply, Vindiciae Gallicae, or Defence of the French Rev- 
olution. 



Constitution of 1791 59 

Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. 

The representatives of the French people, organized in 
National Assembly, considering that ignorance, forgetfulness 
or contempt of the rights of man, are the sole causes of the 
public miseries and of the corruption of governments, have 
resolved to set forth in a solemn declaration the natural, in- 
alienable, and sacred rights of man, in order that this declara- 
tion, being ever present to all the members of the social body, 
may unceasingly remind thiem O'f their rights and their duties ; 
in order that the acts of the legislative power and those of 
the executive power may be each moment compared with 
the aim of every political institution and thereby may be more 
respected ; and in order that the demands of the citizens, 
grounded henceforth upon simple and incontestable principles, 
may always take the direction of maintaining the constitu- 
tion and the welfare of all. 

In consequence, the National Assembly recognizes and de- 
clares, in the presence and under the auspices of the Supreme 
Being, the following rights of man and citizen. ' 

1. Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. So- 
cial distinctions can be based only upon public utility. 

2. The aim of every political association is the preserva- 
tion of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. These 
rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to op- 
pression. 

3. The source of all sovereignity is essentially in the na- 
tion ; no body, no individual can exercise authority that does 
not proceed from it in plain terms. 

4. Liberty consists in the power to do anything that does 
not injure others; accordingly, the exercise of the natural 
rights of each man has no limits except those that secure 
to the other members of society the enjoyment of these same 
rights. These limits can be determined only by law. 

5. The law has the right to forbid only such actions as 
are injurious to society. Nothing can be forbidden that is 
not interdicted by the law, and no one can be constrained to 
do that which it does not order. 

6. Law is the expression of the general will. All citi- 
zens have the right to take part personally, or by their repre- 
sentatives, in its formation. It must be the same for all, 



6o Constitution of 1791 

whether it protects or punishes. All citizens being equal in its 
eyes, are equally eligible to all public dignities, places, and 
employments, according to their capacities, and without other 
distinction than that of their virtues and their talents. 

7. No man can be accused, arrested, or detained, except in 
the cases determined by the law and according to the forms 
that it has prescribed. Those who procure, expedite, execute, 
or cause to be executed arbitrary orders ought to be punished : 
but every citizen summoned or seized in virtue of the law 
ought to render instant obedience ; he makes himself guilty by 
resistance. 

8. The law ought to establish only penalties that are 
strictly and obviously necessary, and no one can be punished 
except in virtue of a law established and promulgated prior to 
the offence and legally applied. 

9. Every man being presumed innocent until he has been 
pronounced guilty, if it is thought indispensable to arrest 
him, all severity that may not be necessary to secure his per- 
son ought to be strictly suppressed by law. 

10. No one should be disturbed on account of his opin- 
ions, even religious, provided their manifestation does not de- 
range the public order established by law. 

11. The free communication of ideas and opinions is one 
of the most precious of the rights of man ; every citizen then 
can freely speak, write, and print, subject to responsibility for 
the abuse of this freedom in the cases determined by law. 

12. The guarantee of the rights of man and citizen re- 
quires a public force; this force then is instituted for the ad- 
vantage of all and not for the personal benefit of those to 
whom it is entrusted. 

13. For the maintenance of the public force and for the 
expenses of administration a general tax is indispensable ; it 
ought to be equally apportioned among all the citizens accord- 
ing to their means. 

14. All the citizens have the right to ascertain, by them- 
selves or by their representatives, the necessity of the public 
tax. to consent to it freely, to follow the employment of it, 
and to determine the quota, the assessment, the collection, and 
the duration of it. 

15. Society has the right to call for an account of his ad- 
ministration from every public agent. 



Ccnstitution of 1791 61 

16. Any society in which the guarantee of the rights is not 
secured, or the separation of powers not determined, has no 
constitution at all. 

17. Property being a sacred and inviolable right, no one 
can be deprived of it, unless a legally established public neces- 
sity evidently demands it, under the condition of a just and 
prior indemnity. 

French Constitution. 

The National Assembly, wishing to establish the French 
constitution upon the principles which it has just recognized 
and declared, abolishes irrevocably the institutions that have 
injured liberty and the equality of rights. 

There is no longer nobility, nor peerage, nor hereditary 
distinctions, nor distinctions of orders, nor feudal regime, nor 
patrimonial jurisdictions, nor any titles, denominations, or 
prerogatives derived therefrom, nor any order of chivalry, nor 
any corporations or decorations which demanded proofs of 
nobility or that were grounded upon distinctions of birth, nor 
any superiority other than that of public officials in the exer- 
cise of their functions. 

There is no longer either sale or inheritance of any public 
office. 

There is no longer for any part of the nation nor for any 
individual any privilege or exception to the law that is com- 
mon to all Frenchmen. 

There are no longer jurandes, nor corporations of profes- 
sions, arts, and crafts. 

The law no longer recognizes religious vows, nor any other 
obligation which may be contrary to natural rights or to the 
constitution. 

Title I. Fundamental Provisions Recognized by the Con- 
stitution. 

The constitution guarantees as natural and civil rights: 

1. That all the citizens are eligible to offices and employ- 
ments, without any other distinction than that of virtue and 
talent; 

2. That all the taxes shall be equally apportioned among 
all the citizens in proportion to their means ; 



62 Constitution of 1791 

3. That like offences shall be punished by like penalties, 
without any distinction ofr persons. 

The constitution likewise guarantees as natural and civil 
rights : 

Liberty to every man to move about, to remain, and to de- 
part without liability to arrest or detention, except according 
to the forms determined by the constitution ; 

Liberty to every man to speak, to write, to print and pul>- 
lish his ideas without having his writings subjected to any 
censorship or inspection before their publication, and to fol- 
low the religous worship to which he is attached ; 

Liberty to the citizens to meet peaceably and without arms, 
in obedience to the police laws ; 

Liberty to address individually signed petitions to the con- 
stituted au'thorities. 

The legislative power cannot make any law that attacks 
and impedes the exercise of the natural and civil rights con- 
tained in the present title and guaranteed by the constitution ; 
but as liberty consists only in the power to do anything that 
is not injurious to the rights of others or to the public secur- 
ity, the law can establish penalties against acts which, in at- 
tacking the public security or the rights of others, may be 
injurious to society. 

The constitution guarantees the inviolability of property or 
a just and prior indemnity for that of which a legally estab- 
lished public necessity may demand the sacrifice. 

Property intended for the expenses of worship and for all 
services of public utility belongs to the nation and is at all 
times at its disposal. 

The constitution guarantees the alienations that have been 
or that shall be made under the forms established by law. 

The citizens have the right to elect or choose the ministers 
of their religious sects. 

There shall be created and organized a general establish- 
ment of public relief in order to bring up abandoned children, 
relieve infirm paupers, and provide work for the able-bodied 
poor who may not have been able to obtain it for themselves. 

There shall be created and organized a system of public 
instruction, common to all citizens, gratuitous as regards the 
parts of education indispensable for all men, and whose es- 
tablishments shall be gradually distributed in accordance with 
the division of the kingdom. 



Constitution of 179 1 63 

There shall be established .national fetes to preserve the 
memory of the French revolution, to maintain fraternity 
among the citizens, and to attach them to the constitution, the 
fatherland, and the lavi^s. 

A code of civil laws common to all the kingdom shall be 
made. 

Title II. Of the Division of the Kingdom and of the Con- 
dition of the Citizens. 

1. The kingdom is one and indivisible; its territory is di- 
vided into eighty-three departments, each department into dis- 
tricts, each district into cantons. 

2. French citizens are: 

Those who are born in France of a French father; 

Those who, born in France of a foreign father, have fixed 
their residence in the kingdom; 

Those who, born in a foreign country of a French father. 
have become established in France and have taken the civic 
oath ; 

Lastly, those who, born in a foreign country and descend- 
ed in any degree whatsoever from a French man or a French 
woman expatriated on account of religion, may come to live 
in France and take the civic oath. 

3. Those residing in France, who were born outside of 
the kingdom from foreign parents, become French citizens 
after five years of continued domicile in the kingdom, if they 
have in addition acquired real estate, or married a French 
woman, or formed an agricultural or commercial establish- 
ment, and have taken thic civic oath. 

4. The legislative power shall be able, for important con- 
siderations, to give to a foreigner a certificate of naturaliza- 
tion, without other conditions than the fixing of his domicile 
in France and the taking of the civic oath. 

5. The civic oath is : / swear to be faithful to the nation, 
the law, and the king, and to maintain with all my power the 
constitution of the kingdom decreed by the National Con- 
stituent Assembly in the years 1789, 1790, and 1791. 

6. The title to French citizenship is lost: 
1st. By naturalization in a foreign country; 

2d. By condemnation to the penalties which involve civi^ 
degradation, as long as the condemned is not rehabilitated; 



64 Constitution of 1791 

3d. By a judgment of contempt of court, as long as the 
judgment is not annulled; 

4th. By affiliation with any foreign order of knighthood, 
or with any foreign organization which would imply proofs 
of nobility or distinctions of tilth, or which would dema,nd re- 
ligious vows. 

7. The law considers marriage as only a civil contract. 
The legislative power shall establish for all inhabitants, 

without distinction, the manner in which births, marriages, 
and deaths shall be recorded, and it shall designate the public 
officers who shall receive and preserve the records therof. 

8. French citizens, considered in their local relations aris- 
ing from their union into cities and into certain districts of 
rural territory, form communes. 

The legislative power shall fix the extent of the district 
of each commune. 

9. The citizens who compose each commune have the 
right to elect at stated times and according to the forms fixed 
by law those among themselves, who, under the title of muni- 
cipal officers, are charged with carrying on the particular af- 
fairs of the commune. 

Some functions related to the interests of the state may be 
delegated to the municipal officers. 

10. The regulations which the municipal officers shall be 
required to follow in the exercise of their municipal functions, 
as well as those which have been delegated to them for the 
general interest, slbiall be fixed by the laws. 

Title III. Of the Public Powers. 

1. Sovereignty is one, indivisible, inalienable, and im- 
prescriptible : it belongs to the .nation : no section of the peo- 
ple nor any individual can attribute to himself the exercise 
thereof. 

2. The nation, from which alone emanates all the powers, 
can exercise them only by delegation. 

The French constitution is representative; the representa- 
tives are the legislative body and the king. 

3. The legislative power is delegated to one National As- 
sembly, composed of temporary representatives freely elected 
by the people, in order to be exercised by it with the sanction 



Constitution of 1791 65 

of the king in the manner which shall be determined here- 
inafter. 

4. The government is monarchical : the executive power 
is delegated to the king, in order to be exercised under his 
authority by ministers and other responsible agents, in the 
manner which shall be determined hereinafter. 

5. The judicial power is delegated to judges elected at 
stated times by the people. 

Chapter I. Of the National Legislative Assembly. 

1. The National Assembly, forming the legislative body, 
is permanent and is composed of only one chamber. 

2. It shall be formed every two years by new elections. 
Each period of two years shall constitute a legislature. 

3. The provisions of the preceding article shall not oper- 
ate with respect to the next legislative body' whose powers 
shall cease the last day of April, 1793. 

4. The renewal of the legislative body takes place ipso 
facto. 

5. The legislative body shall not be dissolved by the king. 
Section I. Number of the representatives. — Basis of rep- 
resentation. 

1. The number of representatives in the legislative body 
is seven hundred and forty-five, by reason of the eighty- 
three departmients of which the kingdom is composed, and apart 
from those which may be granted to the colonies. 

2. The representatives shall be distributed among the 
eighty-three departments, according to the three proportions 
of territory, population, and d'rect tax. 

3. Of the seven hundred and forty-five representatives, 
two hundred and forty-seven are accredited for territory. 

Each department shall select three of these, with the ex- 
ception of the department of Paris which shall select but one. 

4. Two hundred and forty-nine are accredited for popula- 
tion. 

The total mass of the population of the kingdom is divided 
into two hundred and forty-nine parts, and each department 
selects as many deputies as it has parts of population. 

5. Two hundred and forty-nine representatives are ac- 
credited for the direct tax. 

The sum total of the direct tax of the kingdom is likewise 



66 Constitution of 1791 

divided into two hundred and forty-nine parts, and each de- 
partment selects as many deputies as it pays parts of the tax. 

Section 11. Primary assemblies. — Selection of the electors. 

1. In order to form the National Legislative Assembly 
the active citizens s'hall meet every two years in primary as 
semblies in the cities and cantons. 

The primary assemblies shall constitute themselves ipso 
facto on the second Sunday of March, if they have not been 
convoked earlier by the public functionaries designated by the 
law. 

2. In order to be an active citizen it is necessary to be 
born or to become a Frenchman; to be fully twenty-five years 
of age; to be domiciled in the city or in the canton for the 
time fixed by the law ; 

To pay in some place within the kingdom a direct tax at 
the least equal to the value of three days of labor, and to 
present the receipt therefor ; 

Not to be in a state of domestic service, that is to say, 
not to be a servant for wages ; 

To be registered upon the roll of the national guards in 
the municipality of his domicile ; 

To have taken the civic oath. 

3. Every six years the legislative body shall fix the min- 
imum and maximum of the value of a day's labor, and the 
department administrators shall make the local determination 
thereof for each department. 

4. No one may exercise the rights of an active citizen in 
more than one place, nor cause himself to be represented by 
another. 

5. The following are excluded from the exercise of the 
rights of active citizenship : 

Those who are under indictment ; 

Those who, after having been declared to be in a state of 
bankruptcy or insolvency, proven by authentic documents, do 
not procure a general discharge from their creditors. 

6. The primary assemblies shall select electors in propor- 
tion to the number of active citizens domiciled in the city or 
canton. 

There shall be one elector selected at the rate of one hun- 
dred active citizens, whether present at the assembly or not. 



Constitution of 1791 67 

There shall be two selected for one hundred and fifty-one 
up to two hundred, and so on. 

7. No one can be chosen an elector if he does not unite 
with the conditions necessary to be an active citizen, the fol- 
lowing : 

In the cities over six thousand souls, that of being propri- 
etor or usufructuary of an estate valued upon the tax rolls 
at a revenue equal to the local value of two hundred days of 
labor, or of being the occupant of a habitation valued upon the 
same rolls at a revenue equal to the value of a hundred and 
fifty days of labor; 

In cities under six thousand souls that of being proprietor 
or usufructuary of an estate valued upon the tax rolls at a 
revenue equal to the local value of a hundred and fifty days 
of labor, or of being the occupant of a habitation valued upon 
the same rolls at a revenue equal to the value of a hundred 
days of labor ; 

And in the country, that of being the proprietor or usu- 
fructuary of an estate valued upon the tax rolls at a revenue 
equal to the local value of one hundred and fifty days of la- 
bor, or that of being the farmer or metayer of estates valued 
upon the same rolls at the value of four hundred days of la- 
bor. 

With respect to those who shall at the same time be pro- 
prietors or usufructuaries for one part and occupants, farmers 
or metayers for another, their means by these different titles 
shall be cumulated up to the amount necessary to establish 
their eligibility. 

Section III. Electoral assemblies. — Selection of represent- 
atives. 

1. The electors chosen in each department shall assemble 
in order to elect the number of representatives whose selec- 
tion shall be assigned to their department a'nd a number of 
substitutes equal to a third of that of the representatives. 

The electoral assemblies shall constitute themselves ipso 
facto on the last Sunday in March, if they have not 
been convoked earlier by the public functionaries designated 
by the law. 

2. The representatives and the substitutes shall be elected 



68 Constitution of 1791 

by majority of the votes, and they shall be chosen only from 
among the active citizens of the department. 

3. All active citizens, whatever their condition, profession, 
or tax, can be elected representatives of the nation. 

4. Nevertheless, the ministers and other agents of the 
executive power removable at pleasure, the commissioners of 
the national treasury, the collectors and receivers of the direct 
taxes, the overseers of the collection and administration of 
the indirect taxes and national domains, and those who, under 
any denomination whatsoever, are attached to the military 
and civil household of the king, shall be obliged to choose 
[between their offices and that of representative.]. 

The administrators, sub-administrators, municipal officers, 
and commandants of the national guards shall likewise be re- 
quired to choose [between their offices and that of represent- 
ative]. 

5. The exercise of judicial functions shall be incompatible 
with that of representative ot the nation, for the entire dura- 
tion of the legislature. 

The judges shall be replaced by their substitutes, and the 
king shall provide by commissionary warrants for the replac- 
ing of his commissioners before the tribunals. 

6. The members of the legislative body can be re-elected 
to the following legislature, and they can be elected thereafter 
only after the interval of one legislature. 

7. The representatives selected in the department shall 
not be the representatives of one particular department, but 
of the entire nation, and no instructions can be given themi 

Section IV. Meeting and government of the primary elec- 
toral assemblies. 

. I. The functions of the primary and electoral assemblies 
are confined to election; they shall separate immediately after 
the elections have taken place and they shall not form them- 
selves again unless they shall be convoked, except in the case 
of the ist article of section II and of the ist article of section 
III above. 

2. No active citizen can enter or cast his vote in an as- 
sembly, if he is armed. 

3. The armed force shall not be introduced into its midst 
without the express wish of the assembly, unless violence is 



Constitution of 1791 69 

committed there ; in that case the order of the president shall 
suffice to summon the public force. 

4. Every two years there shall be drawn up in each dis- 
trict lists by cantons of the active citizens, and the list of each 
canton shall be published and posted there two months before 
the date of the primary assembly. 

The complaints which shall arise, either to contest the 
qualifications of the citizens placed upon the list or on the 
part of those who shall allege that they are unjustly omitted, 
shall be brought before the tribunals in order to be passed up- 
on there summarily. 

The list shall serve as the rule for the admission of the 
citizens in the next primary assembly in everything that shall 
not have been rectified by the judgments rendered before the 
holding of the assembly. 

5. The electoral assemblies have the right to verify the 
title and the credentials of .those who shall present them- 
selves there, and their decisions, shall be carried out provision- 
ally, saving the judgment of the legislative body at the time 
of the verification of the credentials of the deputies. 

6. In no case and under no circumstances shall the king 
or any of the agents appomted by him assume jurisdiction 
over questions relative to the regularity of the convocations, 
the holding of the assemblies, the form of the elections, or 
the political rights of the citizens, without prejudice to the 
functions of the commissioners of the king in the cases deter- 
mined by the law where questions relative to the political 
rights of citizens must be brought before the tribunals. 

Section V. Meeting of the representatives in National 
Legislative Assembly. 

1. The representatives shall meet on the first Monday of 
the month of May in the place of the sittings of the last legis- 
lature. 

2. They shall form themselves provisionally in assembly 
under the presidency of the oldest member in point of age, 
in order to verify the credentials of the representatives pres- 
ent. 

3. As soon as there shall be verified members to the num- 
ber of three hundred and seventy-three, they shall constitute 
themselves under the title of National Legislative Assembly; 



70 Constitution of 1791 

it shall name a president, a vice-president, and secretaries, 
and shall begin the exercise of its functions. 

4. During the entire course of the month of May, if the 
number of the representatives present is under three hundred 
and seventy-three, the assembly shall not be able to perform 
any legislative act. 

It can pass an order requiring the absent members to re- 
pair to their duties within the period of fifteen days at the 
latest, upon penalty of 3,000 livres fine, if they do not present 
an excuse which shall be pronounced legitimate by the as- 
sembly. 

5. On the last day of May, whatever may be the number 
of the members present, they shall constitute themselves into 
National Legislative Assembly. 

6. The representatives shall pronounce in unison, in the 
name of the French people, the oath to live free or to die. 

They shall afterwards individually take the oath to main- 
tain with all their power the constitution of the kingdom, de- 
creed by the National Constituent Assembly, in the years lySg, 
1790, and 1791 ; and not to propose nor to consent zuithin the 
course of the legislature to anything which may injure it, and 
to be in everything faithful to the nation, the lazv, and the 
king. 

7. The representatives of the nation are inviolable ; they 
cannot be questioned, accused, nor tried at any time for what 
they have said, written, or done in the exercise of their func- 
tions as representatives. 

8. They can, for criminal acts, be seized in the very act 
or in virtue of a warrant of arrest ; but notice shall be given 
thereof without delay to the legislative body; and the pros- 
ecution can be continued only after the legislative body shall 
have decided that there is occasion for accusation. 

Chapter II. Of the Royalty, the Regency, and the Ministers. 
Section I. Of the royalty and the king. 

I. Royalty is indivisible and is delegated hereditarily to 
the ruling family, from male to male, by order of primogeni- 
ture, to the perpetual exclusion of females and their descend- 
ants. 



Constitution of 179 1 71 

(Nothing is presumed about the effect of renunciations in 
the actually ruling family.) 

2. The person of the king is inviolable and sacred: his 
only title is King of the French. 

3. There is no authority in France superior to that of the 
law; the king reigns only by it and it is only in the name of 
the law that he can demand obedience. 

4. The king, upon his accession to the throne or as soon 
as he shall have attained his majority, shall take to the na- 
tion, in the presence of the legislative body, the oath to he 
faithful io the nation and the law, to employ all the power 
which is delegated to him to maintain the constitution decreed 
by the National Constituent Assembly in the years 1789* I790. 
and 1791, and to cause the laws to be executed. 

If the legislative body is not assembled, the king shall 
cause a proclamation to be published, in which shall be set 
forth this oath and the promise to reiterate it as soon as the 
legislative body shall assemble. 

5. If, one month after the invitation of the legislative 
body, the king shall not have taken this oath, or if, after hav- 
ing taken it, he retracts it, he shall be considered to have abdi- 
cated the throne. 

6. If the King puts himself at the head of an army and 
directs the forces thereof against the nation, or if he does not 
by a formal instrument place himself in opposition to any 
such enterprise which may be conducted in his name, he shall 
be considered to have abdicated the throne. 

7. If the king, having left the kingdom, should not return 
after the invitation which shall be made to him for that pur- 
pose by the legislative body and within the period which shall 
be fixed by the proclamation, which shall not be less than two 
months, he shall be considered to have abdicated the throne. 

The period shall begin to run from the day when the proc- 
lamation of the legislative body shall have been published in 
the place of its sittings; and the ministers shall be required 
under their responsibility to perform all the acts of the ex- 
ecutive power, whose exercise shall be suspended in the hands 
of the absent king. 

8. After the express or legal abdication, the king shall be 
in the class of citizens and can be accused and tried like them 
for acts subsequent to his abdication. 



72 Constitution of 1791 

9. The individual estates which the king possesses upon 
his accession to the throne are irrevocably united to the do- 
main of the nation : he has the disposal of those which he ac- 
quires by personal title; if he does not dispose of them they 
are likewise united at the end of the reign. 

ID. The nation provides for the splendor of the throne by 
a civil list, of which the legislative body shall determine the 
sum at each change of reign for the entire duration of the 
reign. 

11. The king shall appoint an administrator of the civil 
list, who shall conduct the judicial actions of the king, and 
against whom all the actions against the king shall be direct- 
ed and judgments pronounced. The judgments obtained by 
the creditors of the civil list shall be executable against the 
administrator personally and upon his own estates. 

12. The king shall have, apart from the guard of 
honor which shall be furnished him by the citizen national 
guards of the place of his residence, a guard paid out of the 
funds of the civil list; it shall not exceed the number of 
twelve hundred infantrymen and six hundred cavalrymen. 

The grades and the regulations iov promotion in it shall be 
the same as in the troops of the line ; but those who shall 
compose the guard of the king shall advance for all the grades 
exclusively among themselves, and they cannot obtain any of 
those in the army of the line. 

The king can choose the men of his guard only from 
among those who are actually in active service in the troops 
of the line, or from among the citizens who for a year past 
have done service as national guards, provided they be resi- 
dents of the kingdom and have previously taken the civic 
oath. 

The guard ot the king cannot be ordered or requisitioned 
for any other public service. 

Section II. Of the regency. 

1. The king is a minor until he is fully eighteen years old ; 
and during his minority there is a regent of the kingdom. 

2. The regency belongs to the kinsman of the king near- 
est in degree, according to the order of inheritance to the 
throne, and fully twenty-five years of age, provided that he 
be French and native born, that he be not heir presumptive 



Constitution of 1791 73 

of another crown, and that he has previously taken the civic 
oath. 

Women are excluded from the regency. 

3. If a minor king has no kinsman uniting the qualifica- 
tions above set forth, the regent of the kingdom shall be elect- 
ed as provided in the following articles. 

4. The legislative body cannot elect the regent. 

5. The electors of each district shall meet at the head- 
town of the district, according to the proclamation which shall 
be made in the first week of the new reign by the legislative 
body, if it is assembled ; and if it is separated, the minister of 
justice shall be required to issue this proclamation within the 
same week. 

6. The electors in each district shall appoint, by individual 
ballot and majority of the votes, an eligible citizen domiciled 
within the district, to whom they shall give, by the minutes 
of the election, a special mandate limited to the single function 
of electing the citizen whom he shall judge, upon his soul 
and his conscience, the most worthy to be elected regent of the 
realm. 

7. The mandatory citizens appointed by the districts shall 
be required to meet in the city where the legislative body is 
to hold its sitting, on the fortieth day at the latest from the 
accession of the minor king to the throne, and they shall 
form the electoral assembly which shall proceed to appoint- 
ment of the regent. 

8. The election of the regent shall be made by individual 
ballot and by majority of the votes. 

9. The electoral assembly shall be able to occupy itself 
only with the election and shall separate as soon as the elec- 
tion shall be concluded ; any other act which it may undertake 
to do is declared unconstitutional and void. 

10. The electoral assembly shall cause the minutes of the 
election to be presented by its president to the legislative body, 
which, after having verified the regularity of the election, shall 
cause it to be published in all the kingdom by a proclamation. 

11. The regent exercises, until the majority of the king, 
all the functions of royalty, and he is not personally respon- 
sible for acts of his administration. 

12. The regent can begin the exercise of his functions only 
after having taken to the nation, in the presence of the legis- 



74 Constitution of 1791 

lative body , the oath to be faithful to the nation, the law, and 
the king; to employ all the power delegated to the king, and 
the exercise of which is confided to him during the minority 
of the king, to maintain the constitution decreed by the Na- 
tional Constituent Assembly in the years 1789, 1790, and I79i> 
and to cause the laws to be executed. 

If the legislative body is not assembled, the regent shall 
cause a proclamation to be published in which shall be ex- 
pressed his oath and the promise to repeat it as soon as the 
legislative body shall be assembled. 

13. As long as the regent has not entered upon the exer- 
cise of his functions, the sanction of the laws remains sus- 
pended; the ministers continue to perform under their respon- 
sibility all the acts of the executive power. 

14. As soon as the regent shall have taken the oath, the 
legislative body shall determine his stipend, which cannot be 
changed during the continuance of the regency. 

15. If, on account of the minority of the kinsman sum- 
moned to the regency, it shall have devolved upon a more 
remote kinsman, or shall have been bestowed by election, the 
regent who shall have entered upon the exercise of it shall 
continue his functions until the majority of the king. 

16. The regency of the kingdom does not confer any right 
over the person of the minor king. 

17. The custody of the minor king shall be confided to his 
mother; and if he has no mother, or if she has been married 
again at the time of the accession of her son to the throne, 
or if she marries again during the minority, the custody shall 
be bestowed by the legislative body. 

Neither the regent and his descendants, nor women, can be 
elected to the guardianship of the minor king. 

18. In case of notoriously recognized insanity of the king. 
legally established and declared by the legislative body after 
three deliberations taken successively from month to month, 
there shall be occasion for a regency as long as the insanity 
lasts. 

Section III. Of the family of the king. 

I. The heir presumptive shall bear the name of Prince 
Royal. 



Constitution of 1791 75 

He cannot leave the Kingdom without a decree of the leg- 
islative body and the consent of the king. 

If he does leave it, and if, having reached the age of 
eighteen years, he does not return to France after having been 
required to do so by a proclamation of the legislative body, 
he is considered to have abdicated the right of succession to 
the throne. 

2. If the heir presumptive is a minor, the kinsman of full 
age first summoned to the regency is required to reside within 
the kingdom. 

In case he may have left it and should not return upon 
the requisition of the legislative body, he shall be considered 
to have abdicated his right to the regency. 

3. The mother of the minor king, having his custody, or 
the elected guardian, if they leave the kingdom, are deprived 
of the custody. 

. If the mother of the minor heir presumptive should leave 
fhe realm., she cannot, even after her return, have the custody 
of her minor son who has become king, except by a decree of 
the legislative body. 

4. A law shall be made to govern the education of the 
minor king and that of the heir presumptive. 

5. The members of the family of the king entitled to the 
eventual succession to the throne enjoy the rights of active 
citizenship, but they are not eligible to any of the places, em- 
ployments, or functions which are at the disposal of the peo- 
ple. 

With .the exception of the departments of the ministry, 
they are eligible to the places and employments at the disposal 
of the king; nevertheless, they shall not command in chief 
any military or naval forces, nor fulfill the functions of am- 
bassadors, except with the consent of the legislative body, 
granted upon the proposal of the king. 

6. The members of the family of the king entitled to 
eventual succession to the throne shall add the denomination 
of French Prince to the name which shall have been given 
them in the civil certificate attesting their birth, and this name 
cannot be patronymical nor formed from any of the titles abol- 
ished by the present constitution. 

The denomination of prince shall not be given to any other 



76 Constitution of 1791 

person and it shall not bestow any privileges .nor any excep- 
tion to the rights common tc all Frenchmen. 

7. The certificates by which shall be attested the births, 
marriages, and deaths of the French princes shall be presented 
to the legislative body, wnich shall order the deposit of them 
in its archives. 

8. No real estate appanage shall be granted to members 
of the family of the king. 

The younger sons of the king shall receive at the age of 
twenty-one years, or at the time of their marriage, an appan- 
aged income which shall be fixed by the legislative body and 
shall terminate with the extmction of their masculine poster- 
ity. 

Section IV. Of the ministers. 

1. The choice and dismissal of the ministers shall belong 
to the king alone. 

2. The members of the present National Assembly and of 
the legislatures following, the members of the tribunal of cas- 
sation, and those who shall serve on the high jury, cannot be 
promoted to the ministry, nor receive any place, gift, pension, 
stipend, or commission from the executive power or from its 
agents, during the continuance of their functions, nor for 
two years after having ceased the exercise of them.. 

It shall be the same with those who are only enrolled upon 
the list of the high jury, during the time that their enrollment 
shall continue. 

3. No one can enter upon the exercise of any employment 
either m the offices of the ministry ot in those of the manage- 
ment or administration of the public revenues, nor in general 
any employment at the nomination of the executive power, 
without taking the civic oath, or without proving that he has 
taken it. 

4. No order of the king can be executed unless it is 
signed by him and countersigned by the minister or adminis- 
trator of the department. 

5. The ministers are responsible for all the ofifences com- 
mitted by themselves against the national security and the 
constitution ; 

For every attack upon property and personal liberty; 



Constitution of 1791 77 

For all waste of monies appropriated for the expenses of 
their departments. 

6. In no case can the arder of the king, verbal or in writ- 
ing, shield a minister from his responsibility. 

7. The ministers are required to present each year to the 
legislative body at the opening of the session .an estimate of 
the expenditures to be made in their departments, to render 
account of the employment of the sums which were appropri- 
ated for them, and to indicate the abuses which may have been 
able to introduce themselves into the different parts of the 
government. 

8. No minister, in office or out of office, can be prosecuted 
for any acts of his administration, without a decree of the 
legislative body. 

Chapter III. Of the Exercise of the Legislative Power. 

Section I. Powers and functions of the National Legisla- 
tive Assembly. 

I. The constitution delegates exclusively to the legisla- 
tive body the following powers and functions : 

1st. To propose and enact the laws; the king can only 
invite the legislative body to take the matter under consider- 
ation ; 

2d. To fix the public expenditures; 

3d. To establish the public taxes, to determine the na- 
ture of them, the quota, the duration, and the mode of col- 
lection ; 

4th. To make the apportionment of the direct tax among 
the departments of the kingdom, to supervise the employment 
of all the public revenues, and to cause an account of them to 
be rendered; 

5th. To decree the creation or suppression of public offi- 
ces; 

6th. To determine the title, weight, stamp, and denom- 
ination of the monies ; 

7th. To permit or forbid the introduction of foreign 
troops upon French soil and foreign naval forces in the ports 
of the kingdom; 

8th. To determine annually, after the proposal of the king, 
the number of m.en and vessels of which the land and naval 



78 Constitution of 1791 

forces shall be composed ; the pay and the number of persons 
of each grade; the rules for admission and promotion, the 
forms of enrollment and discharge, the formation of ship 
crews; the admission of troops or foreign forces into the 
service of France, and the treatment of troops in case of dis- 
bandment ; 

9th. To determine upon the administration and to order 
the alienation of the national lands; 

loth. To institute before the High National Court legal 
proceedings for securing the responsibility of the ministers 
and the principal agents of the executive power ; 

To accuse and to prosecute before the same court those 
who shall be charged with attacks and conspiracies against the 
general security of the state or against the constitution ; 

iith. To establish laws according to which purely per- 
sonal marks of honor or decorations shall be granted to those 
who have rendered services to the state ; 

I2th. The legislative body alone has the right to award 
public honors to the memory of great men. 

2. War can be declared only by a decree of the legislative 
body, rendered upon the formal and indispensable proposal 
of the king, and sanctioned by him. 

In case hostilities are imminent or already begun, or in 
case of an alliance to sustain or a right to preserve by force 
of arms, the king shall give notification of it without delay to 
the legislative body and shall make known the causes thereof. 
If the legislative body is in recess the king shall convoke it 
immediately. 

If the legislative body decides that war ought not to be 
made, the king shall take measures immediately to cause the 
cessation or prevention of all hostilities, the ministers remain- 
ing responsible for delays. 

If the legislative body finds the hostilities already com- 
menced to be a culpable aggression on the part of the minis- 
ters or of any other agent of the executive power, the author 
of the aggression shall be prosecuted criminally. 

During the entire course of the war the legislative body 
can require the king to negotiate for peace ; and the king is 
required to yield to this requisition. 

As soon as the war shall have ceased the legislative body 
shall fix the period within which the troops raised in excess 



Constitution of 1791 79 

of the peace footing shall be discharged and the army reduced 
to its usual condition. 

3. The ratification of treaties of peace, alliance, and com- 
merce belongs to the legislative body; and no treaty shall 
have effect except by this ratification. 

4. The legislative 'body has the right to determine the 
place of its sittings, to continue them as long as it shall judge 
necessary, and to adjourn. At the beginning of each reign, 
if it is not in session, it shall be required to reassemble with- 
out delay. 

It has the right of police over the place of its sittings, and 
over the environs which it shall have determined. 

It has the right of discipHne over its members ; but it can- 
not impose punishment more severe than censure, arrest for 
eight days, or imprisonment for three days. 

It has the right, for its security and for the maintenance of 
the respect that is due to it, to dispose of the forces, which 
with its own consent shall be established in the city where it 
shall hold its sittings. 

5. The executive power cannot cause any body of troops 
of the line to pass or sojourn within thirty thousand toises 
of the legislative body, except upon its requisition or with its 
authorisation. 

Section II. Holding of the meetings and the form of de- 
liberation. 

1. The deliberations of the legislative body shall be pub- 
lic and the minutes of its sittings shall be printed. 

2. The legislative body, nevertheless, may at any time 
form itself into committee of the whole. 

Fifty members shall have the right to require it. 
- During the continuance of the committee of the whole the 
clerks shall retire, the chair of the president shall be vacant ; 
order shall be maintained by the vice-president. 

3. No legislative act shall be deliberated upon or decreed, 
except in the following form. 

4. There shall be three readings of the project for a de- 
cree at three intervals, each of which shall not be less than 
eight days. 

5. The discussion shall be open after each reading; never- 
theless, after the first or second reading, the legislative body 



8o Constitution of 1791 

may declare that there is need for adjournment or that there 
is no need for consideration of it; but in this last case, the 
project for a decree can be presented again in the same ses- 
sion. 

Every project for a decree shall be printed and distributed 
before the second reading of it can be given. 

6. After the third reading, the president shall be required 
to put in deliberation and the legislative body shall decide 
whether it finds itself in condition to render a definitive de- 
cree or whether it wishes to postpone the decision to another 
time in order to receive more ample enlightenment. 

7. The legislative body cannot deliberate unless the sitting 
• is composed of at least two hundred members, and no decree 

shall be passed except by a majority of the votes. 

8. No project of law which, submitted to discussion, shall 
have been rejected after the third reading can be presented 
again in the same session. 

9. The preamble of every definitive decree shall announce 
expressly: ist, the dates of the sittings at which the three 
readings of the project shall have occurred; 2d, the decree by 
which, after the third reading, it shall have been determined 
to decide definitively. 

10. The king shall refuse his sanction to a decree whose 
preamble does not attest the observation of the above forms: 
if any of these decrees be sanctioned, the ministers shall not 
seal it and promulgate it, and their responsibility in this re- 
spect shall last for six years. 

11. The decrees recognized and declared urgent by a prior 
declaration of the legislative body are excepted from the 
above provisions ; but they can be modified or revoked in the 
course of the same session. 

The decree by which the matter shall have been declared 
urgent shall set forth the motives thereof; and there shall be 
mention made of this prior decree in the preamble of the 
definitive decree. 

Sction III. Of the royal sanction. 

1. The decrees of the legislative body are presented to the 
king, who can refuse his consent to them. 

2. In the case where the king refuses his consent, this 
refusal is only suspensive. 



Constitution of 1791 8i 

When the two legislatures following that which shall have 
presented the decree shall have again presented the same de- 
cree in the same terms, the king shall be considered to have 
given the sanction. 

3. The consent of the king is expressed upon each decree 
by this formula signed by the king: The king consents and 
will cause it to he executed. 

The suspensive refusal is expressed by this : The king 
zuill examine. 

4. The king is required to express his consent or his re- 
fusal upon each decree within two months from the presenta- 
tion. 

5. No decree to which the king has refused his consent 
can be presented again by the same legislature. 

6. The decrees sanctioned by the king and those which 
shall have been presented by three consecutive legislatures 
have the force of law, and bear the .name and title of lazvs. 

7. The following are executed as laws, without being sub- 
ject to the sanction: The acts of the legislative body con- 
cerning its constitution in deliberative assembly; 

Its internal police, and that which it is allowed to exercise 
in the environs which it shall have determined; 

The verification of the credentials of its members in at- 
tendance ; 

Orders to the absent members; 

The convocation of the primary assemblies which are late ; 

The exercise of the constitutional police over the admin- 
istrators and the municipal officers ; 

Questions either of eligibility or of the validity of elections. 

In like manner, neither the acts relative to the responsi- 
bility of the ministers, nor the decrees providing that there is 
cause for accusation are subject to the sanction. 

8. The decrees of the legislative body concerning the 
establishment, the promulgation, and the collection of the pub- 
lic taxes shall bear the name and the title of laws. They shall 
be promulgated and executed without being subject to the 
sanction, except for the provisions which establish penalties 
other than fines and pecuniary constraints. 

These decrees cannot be rendered except in accordance 
with the formalities prescribed by articles 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 



82 Constitution of 1791 

9 of section II of the present chapter ; and the legislative body 
shall not insert in them any provision foreign to their purpose. 

Section IV. Relations of the Legislative Body with the 
King. 

1. When the legislative body is definitely constituted, it 
sends to the king a deputation in order to inform him thereof. 
The king can each year open the session and can bring for- 
ward the matters which he believes ought to be taken into 
consideration in the course of that session, without this for- 
mality, nevertheless, being considered as necessary for the 
activity of the legislative body. 

2. When the legislative body wishes to adjourn beyond 
fifteen days, it is required to notify the king thereof by a 
deputation, at least eight days in advance. 

3. At least eight days before the end of each session, the 
legislative body sends to the king a deputation, in order to an- 
nounce to him the day whereon it proposes to terminate its 
sittings. The king can come to close the session. 

4. If the king thinks it important for the welfare of the 
state that the session be continued, or that the adjournment 
should not occur, or that it should occur only for a shorter 
time, he can send a message to that effect, upon which the 
legislative body is required to deliberate. 

5. The king shall convoke the legislative body during the 
intermission of its sessions, whenever the interests of the state 
appear to him to require it, as well as in the cases which have 
been provided for and determined by the legislative body 
before its adjournment. 

6. Whenever the king repairs to the place of the sittings 
of the legislative body, he shall be received and conducted by 
a deputation ; he canno^ be accompanied within the interior of 
the hall except by the prince royal and the ministers. 

7. In no case can the president make up part of a deputa- 
tion. 

8. The legislative body shall cease to be a deliberative 
body as long as the king shall be present. 

9. The documents of the correspondence of the king with 
the legislative body shall always be countersigned by a min- 
ister. 

10. The ministers of the king shall have entrance into 



Constitution of 1791 83 

the National Legislative Assembly; they shall have a desig- 
nated place there. 

They shall be heard, whenever they shall demand it, upon 
matters relative to their administrations or when they shall be 
required to give information. 

They shall likewise be heard upon matters foreign to their 
administrations when the National Assembly shall grant them 
the word. 

Chapter IV. Of the Exercise of the Executive Power. 

1. The supreme executive power resides exclusively in the 
hands of the king. 

The king is the supreme head of the general administration 
of the kingdom; the task of looking after the maintenance of 
public order and tranquility is confided to him. 

The king is the supreme head of the army and navy. 

The task of looking after the external security of the king- 
dom and of mantaining its rights and possessions is delegated 
to the king. 

2. The king appoints the ambassadors and other agents of 
political negotiations. 

He confers the command of the armies and fleets, and the 
grades of marshal and admiral. 

He appoints two-thirds of the rear-admirals, half of the 
lieutenant generals, camp-marshals, ship-captains, and colonels 
of the national gendarmerie. 

He appoints two-thirds of the colonels and lieutenant col- 
onels, and a sixth of the ship-lieutenants. 

All of these conforming to the laws upon promotion. 

He appoints in the civil administration of the navy the 
managers, comptrollers, treasurers of the arsenals, heads of 
the works, under-chiefs of civil buildings, and half of the 
heads of administration and under-chiefs of construction. 

He appoints the commissioners before the tribunals. 

He appoints the officers-in-chief for the administrations 
of the indirect taxes and for the administration of the nation- 
al lands. 

He superintends the coining of monies, and appoints the 
officers charged with the exercise of this surveillance in the 
general commission and in the mints. 



84 Constitution of 1791 

The image of the king is stamped upon all the monies of 
the kingdom. 

3. The king causes to be delivered the letters-patent, war- 
rants, and commissions, to public functionaries or others, who 
ought to receive them. 

4. The king causes to be drawn up the list of the pensions 
and gratuities, in order to be presented to the legislative body 
at each of its sessions and to be decreed, if there is need 
thereof. 

Section I. Of the promulgation of the laws. 

1. The executive power is charged to cause the laws to be 
sealed with the seal of the state and to cause them to be pro- 
mulgated. 

It is likewise charged to cause to be promulgated and to be 
executed the acts of the legislative body which do not need 
the sanction of the king. 

2. There shall be made two original copies of each law. 
both signed by the king, countersigned by the minister of 
justice, and sealed with the seal of the state. 

One shall remain on deposit in the archives of the seal, 
and the other shall be placed in the archives of the legisla- 
tive body. 

3. The promulgation shall be thus expressed : 

"N. (the name of the king), by the grace of God, and by 
the constitutional law of the state, King of the French, to all 
present and to come, greeting. The National Assembly has 
decreed, and we wish and order as follows:" 

(A literal copy of the decree shall be inserted without any 
change.) 

"We command and order to all the administrative bodies 
and the tribunals that they cause these presents to be recorded 
in their registers, read, published, and posted in their respec- 
tive departments and jurisdictions, and executed as law of the 
kingdom. In testimony whereof we have signed these pres- 
ents, to which we have caused to be affixed the seal of the 
state." 

4. If the king is a minor, the laws, proclamations, and 
other documents emanating from the royal authority during 
the regency shall be expressed as follows : 

"N. {the name of the regent), regent of the kingdom, in 



Constitution of 1791 85 

the name of N. (the name of the king), by the grace of God 
and by the constitutional law of the state, King of the French, 
etc., etc." 

5. The executive power is required to send the laws to the 
administrative bodies and the tribunals, to cause the trans- 
mission to be certified, and to give proof thereof to the leg- 
islative body. 

6. The executive power cannot make any law, even pro- 
visionally, but only proclamations in conformity with the laws 
to order or call to mind the execution of them. 

Section II. Of the internal administration. 

1. In each department there is a superior administration, 
and in each district a subordinate administration. 

2. The administrators do not have any representative 
character. 

They are agents elected at stated times by the people to 
exercise, under the surveillance and authority of the king, the 
administrative functions. 

3. They cannot interfere in the exercise of the legislative 
power, nor suspend the execution of the laws, nor encroach 
in any manner upon the judiciary, nor upon the military ar- 
rangements or operations. 

4. The administrators are essentially charged with the ap- 
portionment of the direct taxes and the surveillance of the 
monies arising from all the public taxes and revenues in their 
territory. 

It belongs to the legislative power to determine the regu- 
lations and the mode of their functions, upon the matters 
above expressed as well as upon all the other parts of the in- 
ternal administration. 

5. The king has the right to annul the acts of the depart- 
ment administrators which are contrary to the laws or to the 
orders which shall have been addressed to them. 

He can suspend them from their functions, in case of per- 
sistent disobedience, or if they compromise by their acts the 
public security or tranquility. 

6. The department administrators, likewise, have the right 
to annul the acts of the district sub-administrators which are 
contrary to the laws, or to the decisions of the department 
administrators, or to the orders which these latter shall have 



86 Constitution of 1791 

given or transmitted. They can, likewise, suspend them from 
their functions in case of persistent disobedience, or if these 
latter compromise by their acts the public security or tranquil- 
ity, provided that notification thereof be given to the king 
who can remove or confirm the suspension. 

7. When the department administrators shall not have 
used the power which is delegated to them in the article above, 
the king can annul directly the acts of the sub-administrators 
and suspend them in the same cases. 

8. Whenever the king shall have pronounced or confirmed 
the suspension of administrators or sub-administrators, he 
shall give notice thereof to the legislative body. 

This [body] may remove the suspension or confirm it, or 
even dissolve the guilty administration and, if there is need, 
send all the administrators or any of them to the criminal 
tribunals, or bring against them the decree of accusation. 

Section III. Of the external relations. 

1. The king alone can enter upon political relations abroad, 
conduct negotiations, make preparations for war proportioned 
■to those of the neighboring states, distribute the forces of the 
army and the navy as he shall deem suitable and control the 
direction thereof in case of war. 

2. Every declaration of war shall be made in these terms: 
On the part of the King of the French, in the name of the 
nation. 

3. It belongs to the king to conclude and sign with all 
foreign powers all treaties of peace, alliance, and commerce. 
and all other conventions which he shall deem necessary for 
the welfare of the state, subject to the ratification of the leg- 
islative body. 

Chapter V. Of the Judicial Power. 

1. The judicial power cannot in any case be exercised by 
the legislative body nor by the king. 

2. Justice shall be rendered gratuitously by judges elected 
at stated times by the people and instituted by letters patent 
of the king, who cannot refuse them. 

They cannot be removed except for duly pronounced for- 
feiture, nor suspended save by an accepted accusation. 
The public accuser shall be chosen by the people. 



Constitution of 1791 87 

3. The tribunals cannot interfere in the exercise of the leg- 
islative power, nor suspend the execution of the laws, nor en- 
croach upon the administrative functions, nor cite before them 
the administrators on account of their functions. 

4. Citizens cannot be deprived of the judges whom the law 
assigns to them by any commission, nor by other attributions 
and evocations than those determined by the laws. 

5. The right of citizens to terminate definitively their con- 
troversies by means of arbitration cannot' be impaired by the 
acts of the legislative power. 

6. The ordinary tribunals cannot entertain any civil action 
unless it should be shown to them that the parties have ap- 
peared, or that the plaintiff has cited the adverse party before 
mediators, in order to obtain a conciliation. 

7. There shall be one or several justices of the peace in the 
cantons and cities ; the number thereof shall be determined by 
the legislative power. 

8. It belongs to the legislative power to regulate the num- 
ber and the districts of the tribunals, and the number of the 
judges of which each tribunal shall be composed. 

9. In criminal matters no citizen can be tried except upon 
an accusation received by the jurors or decreed by the legis- 
lative body, in the cases wliere the preferring of the accusa- 
tion belongs to it. 

After the accusation has been accepted, the facts shall be 
recognized and declared by the jurors. 

The accused shall have the right to reject up to twenty of 
these without giving reasons. 

The jurors who shall declare the facts shall not be less than 
twelve in number. 

The application of the law shall be made by the judg'es. 

The proceedings shall be public and the assistance of coun- 
sel shall not be refused to the accused. 

No man acquitted by a legal jury can be taken again or 
accused on account of the same act. 

10. No man can be seized except in order to be brought 
before the police ofificer; and no man can be put under arrest 
or detained, except in virtue of a warrant from police officers. 
an order of arrest from a tribunal, a decree of accusation of 
the legislative body, in case the decision belongs to it, or of 



88 Constitution of 1791 

a sentence of condemnation to prison or correctional deten- 
tion. 

IT. Every man seized and brought before the poUce offi- 
cers shall be examined immediately, or at the latest within 
twenty-four hours. 

If the examination shows that there is no ground for in- 
crimination, he shall be set at liberty immediately; or if there 
is occasion for sending him to jail, he shall be taken there 
within the briefest possible interval , which in any case shall 
not exceed three days. 

12. No arrested man can be kept in confinement in any 
case in which the law permits remaining free under bail, if he 
gives sufficient bail. 

13. No man, in a case in which his detention is authorised 
by law, can be brought to or confined anywhere except in the 
places legally and publicly designated to serve as jail, court 
house, or prison. 

14. No custodian nor jailer can receive or confine any 
man, except in virtue of a warrant or order of arrest, decree 
of accusation or sentence mentioned in article 10 above, and 
unless the transcript thereof has been made upon his register. 

15. Every custodian or jailer is required, without any or- 
der being able to dispense therewith, to present the person of 
the prisoner to the civil officer having the police of the jail, 
whenever it shall be required by him. 

In like manner the presentation of the person of the pris- 
oner cannot be refused to his kinsmen and friends bearing 
the order of the civil officer, who shall always be required to 
grant it, unless the custodian or jailer presents an order of 
the judge, transcribed upon his register, to keep the accused 
in secret. 

16. Any man, whatever may be his place or his employ- 
ment, other than those to whom the law gives the right of 
arrest, who shall give, sign, execute or cause to be executed 
an order or arrest for a citizen, or anyone, who, even in the 
case of arrest authorised by law, shall conduct, receive, or 
retain a citizen in a place of detention not publicly and legally 
designated, and any custodian or jailer who shall contravene 
the provisions of articles 14 and 15 above, shall be guilty of 
the crime of arbitrary imprisonment. 

17. No man can be questioned or prosecuted on account 



Constitution of 1791 89 

of writings which he shall have caused to be printed or pub- 
lished upon any matter whatsoever, unless he has intention- 
ally instigated disobedience to the law, contempt for the con- 
stituted authorities, resistance to their acts, or any of the acts 
declared crimes or olifences by the law. 

Criticism upon the acts of the constituted authorities is 
permitted; but wilful calumnies against the probity of the pub- 
lic functionaries and the rectitude of their intentions in the 
exercise of their functions can be prosecuted by those who are 
the object of them. 

Calumnies and injuries against a,ny persons whatsoever rela- 
tive to acts of their private life shall be punished upon their 
prosecutions. 

18. No one can be tried either by civil or criminal process 
for written, printed, or published facts, unless it has been 
recognized and declared by a jury; ist, whether there is an 
offence in the writing denounced; 2d, whether the prosecuted 
person is guilty. 

19. There shall be for all the kingdom a single tribunal of 
cassation, established near the legislative body. Its functions 
shall be to pronounce : 

Upon petitions in cassation against the judgments rendered 
in the last resort by the tribunals ; 

Upon petitions for transfer from one tribunal to another, 
o.n account of legitimate suspicion ; 

Upon orders of judges and the charges of prejudice against 
an entire tribunal. 

20. In matters of cassation the tribunal of cassation shall 
never be able to take jurisdiction over the facts of suits; but 
after having quashed the judgment rendered upon a proceed- 
ing in which the forms shall have been violated, or which shall 
contain an express contravention of the law, it shall remand 
the facts of the trial to the tribunal which ought to have 
jurisdiction therein. 

21. When after two cassations, the judgment of the third 
tribunal shall be attacked by the same means as the first two, 
the question shall not be further discussed in the tribunal of 
cassation without having been submitted to the legislative 
body, which shall pass a decree declaratory of the law, to 
which the tribunal of cassation shall be required to conform. 

22. Each year the tribunal of cassation shall be required 



go Constitution of 1791 

to send to the bar of the legislative body a deputation of eight 
• of its members, who shall present to it the list of the judg- 
ments rendered, along with each of which shall be a condensed 
account of the suit and the text of the law which shall have 
determined the decision. 

23. A high national court, formed of members of the tri- 
bunal of cassation and of high jurors, shall have jurisdiction 
over the offences of the ministers and principal agents of the 
executive power, and over crimes which shall assail the gen- 
eral security of the state, when the legislative body shall have 
rendered a decree of accusation. 

It shall not assemble except upon the decree of the legis- 
lative body, and only at a distance of at least thirty thousand 
toises from the place where the legislative body shall hold 
its sittings. 

24. The writs of execution of the tribunals shall be ex- 
pressed as follows : 

"N. {the name of the king), by the grace of God and by 
the constitutional law of the state. King of the French, to all 

present and to come, greeting. The tribunal of 

has rendered the following judgment: 

{Here shall be copied the judgment, in which mention 
shall he made of the names of the judges.) 

"We command and order to all bailiffs, upon this requisi- 
tion, to put the said judgment into execution; to our commis- 
sioners before the tribunals, to support them ; and to all com- 
mandants and officers of the public forces, to lend assistance, 
when they shall be legally summoned thereto. In testimony 
of which, the present judgment has been signed by the pres- 
ident of the tribunal and the clerk." 

25. The functions of the commissioners of the king before 
the tribunals shall be to require the observation of the laws 
in the judgments rendered, and to cause the judgments ren- 
dered to be executed. 

They shall not be public accusers, but they shall be heard 
upon all accusations and shall make demand for the regularity 
of the forms, during the course of the proceedings, and for 
the application of the law before the sentence. 

26. The commissioners of the king before the tribunals 
shall denounce to the foreman of the jury, either ex-oificio or 



Constitution of 1 791 91. 

in consequence of the orders which sihall be given them by the 
king: 

Attacks upon the personal liberty of the citizens, against 
the free circulation of provisions and other articles of com- 
merce, and against the collection of the taxes ; 

Offences by which the execution of the orders given 
by the king in the exercise of the functions which are delegat- 
ed to him may be disturbed or interfered with; 

Attacks upon international law ; 

And revolts against the execution of the judgments pnd 
of all the executory acts emanating from the constituted 
authorities. 

27. The minister of justice shall denounce to the tribunal 
of cassation, by means of the commissioner of the king', and 
without prejudice to the rights of the interested parties, the 
acts in which the judges may have exceeded the limits of 
their power. 

The tribunal shall annul them ; and, if they give occasion 
for forfeiture, the fact shall be denounced to the legislative 
body, which shall render the decree of accusation, if there is 
need, and shall send the accused before the high national 
court. 

Title IV. Of the Public Force 

1. The public force is instituted in order to defend the 
state against enemies from abroad, and to assure within the 
maintenance of order and the execution of the laws. 

2. It is composed of the army and the navy, of the troops 
especially intended for internal service, and subsidiary of the 
active citizens and their children, in condition to bear arms, 
registered upon the roll of the national guard. 

3. The national guards form neither a military body nor 
an institution within the state; they are the citizens them- 
selves summoned to service in the public force. 

4. The citizens shall never take the form nor act as na- 
tional guards, except in virtue of a requisition or of a legal 
authorisation. 

5. They are subject in this capacity to an organization de- 
termined by the law. 

They can have but one common discipline and one com- 
mon uniform in the whole kingdom. 



92 Constitution of 1791 

The distinctions of rank and subordination exist only in 
relation to the service and during its continuance. 

6. The officers are elected at stated times and they can be 
re-elected only after an interval of service as soldiers. 

No one shall command the national guard of more than 
one district. 

7. All parts of the public force employed for the security 
of the state against enemies from abroad shall act under 
the orders of the king. 

8. No corps nor detachment of troops of the line can act 
in the interior of the kingdom without a legal requisition. 

9. No agent of the public force can enter into the house 
of a citizen, except for the execution of the warrants of po- 
lice and justice, or in the cases expressly provided for by law. 

ID. The requisition of the public force within the interior 
of the realm belongs to the civil officers, according to the 
regulations determined by the legislative power. 

11. If disorders disturb an entire department, the king, 
under the responsibility of his ministers, shall give the neces- 
sary orders for the execution of the laws and for the re-es- 
tablishment of order, but subject to informing the legislative 
body thereof, if it is assembled, and of convoking it, if it is 
in recess. 

12. The public force is essentially, obedient; no armed 
body can deliberate. 

13. The army and navy and the troops designed for the 
internal security are subject to special laws, in the matter of 
military offences, both for the maintenance of discipline and 
for the form of the trials and the nature of the penalties. 

Title V. Of the Public Taxes 

1. The public taxes are considered a.nd fixed each year by 
the legislative body and they shall not remain in force be- 
yond the last day of the following session, unless they have 
been expressly renewed. 

2. Under no pretext shall the funds necessary for the dis- 
charge of the national debt and the payment of the civil list 
be refused or suspended. 

The compensation of the ministers of the Catholic worship, 
pensioned, maintained, elected, or appointed in virtue of the 



Constitution of 1791 93 

decrees of the National Assembly, makes part of the national 
debt. 

The legislative body shall not in any case charge the na- 
tion with the payment of the debts of any person. 

3. The detailed accounts of the expenditure of the minis- 
terial departments, signed and certified by the ministers or 
ordainers-general, shall be made public by being printed at the 
beginning of the sessions of each legislature. 

Likewise there shall be lists of the receipts from the differ- 
ent taxes and of all the public revenues. 

The lists of these expenses and receipts shall be distin- 
guished according to their nature, and shall show the sums 
received and expended year by year in each district. 

The particular expenses of each department relative to the 
tribunals, the administrative bodies and other establishments, 
shall likewise be made public. 

4. The department administrators and sub-administra- 
tors shall not establish any pviblic tax, nor make any appor- 
tionment beyond the time and sums fixed by the legislative 
body, nor consider or permit, without being authorised by it, 
any local loan at the expense of the citizens of the depart- 
ment. 

5. The executive department directs a.nd supervises the 
collection and disbursement of the taxes and gives all the 
necessary orders for that purpose. 

Title VI. Of the Relation of the French Nation with 
Foreign Nations 

The French nation renounces the undertaking of any war 
with a view to making conquests, and will never employ its 
forces against the liberty of any people. 

The constitution does not admit the right of aubaine. 

Foreigners, established m France or not, inherit from their 
French or foreign kinsmen. 

They can contract for, acquire, and receive estates situated 
in France and dispose of them just as any French citizen by 
all the methods authorised by the laws. 

Foreigners who chance to be in France are subject to the 
same criminal and police laws as the French citizens, saving 
the conventions arranged with the foreign powers ; their per- 



94 Constitution of 1791 

sons, their estates, their business, their religion, are likewise 
protected by the law. 

Title VII. Of the Revision of the Constitutional 
Decrees 

1. The National Constituent Assembly declares that the 
nation has the imprescriptible right to change its constitu- 
tion : nevertheless, considering that it is more conformable to 
the national interests to make use of the right only to reform, 
by the means provided in the constitution itself, the articles 
of which experience shall have made the inconveniences felt, 
decrees that it shall proceed by an assembly of revision in the 
following form. 

2. When three consecutive legislatures shall have expressed 
a uniform wish for the amendment of some constitutional ar- 
ticle, the revision demanded shall take place. 

3. The next legislature and the one following shall not 
propose the alteration of any constitutional article. 

4. Of the three legislatures which may one after another 
propose any changes, the first two shall occupy themselves 
with that matter only in the last two months of their last ses- 
sion and the third only at the end of its first session or at the 
beginning of the second. 

Their deliberations upon this matter shall be subject to the 
the same forms as the legislative acts ; but the decrees by 
which they shall have expressed their wish shall not be sub- 
ject to the sanction of the king. 

5. The fourth legislature, augmented by two hundred and 
forty-nine members elected in each department by doubling 
the usual number which it furnishes for its population, shall 
form the assembly of revision. 

These two hundred and forty-nine members shall be elected 
after the selection of the representatives of the legislative 
body shall have been concluded and there shall be a separate 
record made of it. 

The assembly of revision shall be composed of only one 
chamber. 

6. The members of the third legislature which shall have 
requested the alteration cannot be elected to the assembly of 
revision. 

7. The members of the assembly of revision, after having 



Constitution of 1791 95 

pronounced in unison the oath to live free or to die, shall take 
individually that "to confine themselves to pass upon the mat- 
ters which shall have been submitted to them by the unitorm 
wish of the three preceding legislatures ; to maintain, besides, 
with all their power the constitution of the kingdom, decreed 
by the National Constituent Assembly in the years 1789, 1790, 
and 1791, and in everything to be faithful to the nation, the 
law, and the king." 

8. The assembly of revision shall be required to occupy 
itself afterwards and without delay with the matters which 
shall have been submitted to its examination : as soon as its 
work shall be concluded, the two hundred forty-nine members 
in augmentation shall retire, without power to take part in 
any case in legislative acts. 

[Miscellaneous Provisions.] 

The French colonies and possessions in Asia, Africa, and 
America, although they form part of the French dominion, 
are not included in the present constitution. 

None of the authorities instituted by the constitution has 
the right to change it in its entirety or in its parts, saving the 
alterations which may be made in it by way of revision in con- 
formity with the provisions of title vii above. 

The National Constituent Assembly delivers it as a trust 
to the fidelity of the legislative body, the king, and the 
judges, to the vigilance of the fathers of families, to the wives 
and the mothers, to the affection of the young citizens, to the 
courage of all the French. 

The decrees rendered by the National Constituent Assem- 
bly which are not included in the constitutional act, shall be 
executed as laws, and the prior laws which have not been ab- 
rogated shall likewise be observed, in so far as the one or the 
other have not been revoked or modified by the legislative 
power. 

The National Assembly having heard the reading of the 
above constitutional act, and after having approved it, declares 
that the constitution is completed and that it cannot be fur- 
ther changed. 

There shall be appointed immediately a deputation of sixty 
members to offer, within the day, the constitutional act to the 
king. 



96 Acceptance of the Constitution 



16. The King's Acceptance of the Constitution. 

September 13, 1791. Moniteur, September 14, 1701 (Reimpres- 
sion, IX, 655). 

This document was read to the Constituent Assembly In ex- 
planation of the king's acceptance of No. 15. Three features cail 
for particular notice: (1) the official defence of the king's flight. 
(2) the interpretation placed upon the revision recently effected 
in the final draft of the constitution, (3) the attitude of the king 
towards the general course of the revolution and especially towards 
the new constitution. 

Refekenck. Aulard, Revolution frariQaise, 164-166. 

Gentlemen : I have examined attentively the constitutional 
act which you have presented to me for my acceptance ; I 
accept it and shall cause it to be executed. This declaration 
might have sufficed at another time; today I owe it to the in- 
terests of the nation, I owe it to myself, to make known my 
reasons. 



Let everyone recall the moment at which I went away from 
Paris : the constitution was on the point of completion, never- 
theless the authority of the laws seemed to become enfeebled 
every day. Opinion, far from becoming fixed, was subdivid- 
ing into a multitude of parties. The most extreme opinions 
alone seemed to obtain favor, the license of the press was at 
the highest pitch, no authority was respected. I could no 
longer recognize the mark of the general will in the laws 
vvhich I saw everywhere without force and without execution. 
At that time, I am bound to declare, if you had presented the 
constitution to me, I should not have believed that the interest 
of the people (the constant and sole rule of my conduct") 
would permit me to accept it. I had only one feeling, I 
formed only one project; I wished to isolate myself from alt 
the parties and to know what was truly the will of the nation. 

The considerations which were controlling me no longer 
remain today; since then the inconveniences and evils of which 
I was complaining have impressed you as they did me; yon 
have manifested a desire to re-establish order, yOu have di- 
rected your attention to the lack of discipline iil the army, 
you have recognized the necessity of repressing the abuses of 
the press. The revision of your work has put in the number 



The Rejected Decrees 97 

of the regulative laws several articles which had been present- 
ed to me as constitutional. You have established legal forms 
for the revision of those which you have placed in the con- 
stitution. Finally, the opinion of the people is to me no longer 
doubtful ; I have seen it manifested both in their adhesion to 
your work and their attachment to the maintenance of the 
monarchical government. 

I accept then the constitution. I take the engagement to 
maintain it within, to defend it against attacks from without, 
and to cause it to be executed by all the means which it places 
in my power. I declare that, instructed by the adhesion which 
the great majority of the people give to the constitution, I 
renounce the co-operation which I had claimed in that work; 
and that, being responsible only to the nation, no other, when 
I renounce it, has the right to complain thereof. I should be- 
lacking in sincerity, however, if I said that I perceived in the 
means of execution and administration, all the energy which 
may be necessary in order to give motion to and to preserve 
unity in all the parts of so vast an empire ; but since opinio.ns 
at present are divided upon these matters, I consent that ex- 
perience alone remain judge therein. When I shall have loyal- 
ly caused to operate all the means which have been left to me, 
no reproach can be aimed at me, and the .nation, whose inter- 
est alone ought to serve as rule, will explain itself by the 
means which the constitution has reserved to it. 

Signed, Louis. 



17. The Rejected Decrees. 

The Legislative Assembly began its sittings October 1, 1791. 
Among the many difficult questions confronting it were those of 
the emiffres and the non-juring clergy. These decrees represent 
the assembly's solution of these problems. Both were rejected by 
the king. This rejection was a leading factor in producing both 
the declaration of war against Austria and the overthrow of the 
monarchy. 

References. Gardiner, French Revolution, 100-102 : Stephens, 
French Revolution, II, 31-39 ; Cambriflge Modern Historii. VIII. 
218-219 : Lavisse and Rambaud. Histoire p6nerale, VIII, 125- 
126 ; Jaurfes, Histoire socialiste, II. 842-845, 848-860. 

A. Decree upon the Ev.igrcs. November 9, 1791. Duver- 
gier, Lois, IV, 14-15. 



gS The Rejected Decrees 

The National Assembly, considering that the tranquility 
and security of the kingdom require it to take prompt and 
effective measures against Frenchmen who, despite the am- 
nesty, do not cease to plot abroad against the French consti- 
tution, and that it is time finally to repress severely those 
whom indulgence has not been able to reclaim to the duties 
and sentiments of free citizens, has declared that there is 
urgency for the following decree, and the decree of urgency 
being previously rendered, has decreed as follows : 

1. The Frenchmen mustered beyond the frontiers of the 
kingdom are from this moment declared suspects for conspir- 
acy against the fatherland. 

2. If on the 1st of January next they are still in a state of 
muster, they shall be declared guilty of conspiracy, they shall 
be prosecuted as such and punished with death. 

3. As to the French princes and public functionaries, civil 
and ecclesiastical, and those who were such at the date of their 
departure from the kingdom, their absence at the above cited 
date of the ist of January, 1792, shall make them guilty of the 
same crime of conspiracy against the fatherland; they shall 
be punished with the penalty provided in the preceding art- 
icle. 

5. The incomes of the conspirators condemned in contu- 
macy shall be collected during their lifetime for the benefit of 
the nation, without prejudice to the rights of their wives, 
children, and lawful creditors. 

13. Every Frenchman who, outside of the kingdom, shall 
engage and enroll persons to repair to the musters mentioned 
in articles i and 2 of the present decree shall be punished with 
death, in conformity with the law of October 6, 1790. The 
same penalty shall apply to every person who shall commit 
the same crime in France. 

14. The National Assembly charges its diplomatic com- 
mittee to propose to it the measures which the king shall be 
requested to take in the name of the nation with respect to the 
adjacent foreign powers which permit upon their territories 
the musters of French fugitives. 



The Rejected Decrees gg 

B. Decree upon the Non-juring Clergy. November 29, 
1791. Duvergier, Lois, IV, 20-22. 

The National Assembly, after having heard the report of 
the civil commissioners sent into the department of the Ven- 
dee, the petitions of a large number of citizens, and the report 
of the committee of civil and criminal legislation upon the 
disturbances excited in several departments of the kingdom 
by the enemies of the public v^relfare, under pretext of relig- 
ion; 

Considering that the social contract ought to bind, as it 
ought equally to protect, all the members of the state ; 

That it is important to define, vi^ithout ambiguity, the terms 
of that ' engagement, in order that a confusion in its words 
may not effect one in its ideas ; that the oath, purely civic, is 
the surety vi^hich every citizen ought to give of his fidelity to 
the law and of his attachment to society, and that difference 
of religious opinions cannot be an impediment to the taking 
of the oath, since the constitution secures to every citizen 
complete liberty of his opinions in the matter of religion, pro- 
vided that their expression does not disturb order, or involve 
acts injurious to the public security; 

That the minister of a religion in refusing to recognize the 
constitutional act which authorises him to profess his relig- 
ious opinions, without setting over against him any other ob- 
ligation than respect for the order established by the law and 
for the public security, would announce, by this refusal it- 
self, that it was his intention not to respect them; 

That in determining not to recognize the law, he volun- 
tarily renounces the advantages which that law alone can 
guarantee ; 

That the National Assembly, eager to devote itself to the 
great matters which invite attention for the consolidation 
of credit and the system of finances, with regret sees itself 
obliged to turn its attention first to the disorders which have 
a tendency to compromise all parts of the public service, by 
preventing the prompt assessment and peaceable collection of 
the taxes ; 

■ That in tracing to their origin these disorders it has heard 
the voice of all the citizens clearly proclaiming the authority 
of this great truth, that religion is for the enemies of the con- 



lOO The Rejected Decrees 

stitution only a pretext of which they make an ill use, and an 
instrument of which they venture to avail themselves, in order 
to disturb the earth in the .name of heaven ; 

That their mysterious offences easily escape ordinary meas- 
ures, which do not get hold of the clandestine ceremonies in 
which their plots are enveloped and by which they exercise 
over consciences an invisible authority; 

That it is time finally to pierce these obscurities, in order 
that the peaceable and well intentioned citizen may be distin- 
guished from the turbulent priest and contriver who' mourns 
for the ancient abuses and does not pardon the revolution for 
having destroyed them; 

That these considerations imperatively demand that the 
legislative body should take ample political measures to re- 
press the factious who cover their conspiracies with a sacred 
veil ; 

That the efficiency of these measures depends in great part 
upon the patriotism, prudence and firmness of the municipal 
and administrative bodies and the energy which their impetus 
can communicate to all the other constituted authorities ; 

That the department administrations, especially, can under 
the circumstances render the greatest service to the nation 
and cover themselves with glory by making haste to re- 
spond to the confidence of the National Assembly, which will 
always be pleased to take notice of their zeal, but which at 
the same time will punish severely the public functionaries 
whose lack of zeal in the execution of the law may have the 
appearance of a tacit connivance with the enemies of the con- 
stitution ; 

That, finally, it is especially to the progress of sane reason 
and well directed public opinion that it is reserved to achieve 
the triumph of the law, to open the eyes of the inhabitants of 
the country districts to the perfidious interest of those who 
wish to make them believe that the constituent legislators have 
laid hands upon the religion of their fathers, and to prevent 
for French honor, in the age of enlightenment, the renewal of 
the horrible scenes by which superstition has unhappily only 
too often soiled their history in the ages in which the ignor- 
ance of the people was one of the forces of the government; 
The National Assembly, having previously decreed urgency, 
decrees as follows : 



The Rejected Decrees . loi 

I. Within a week, dating from the publication of this de- 
cree, all ecclesiastics other than those who have conformed to 
the decree of November 27 last shall be required to present 
themselves before the municipality of the place of their domi- 
cile, to take there the civic oath in the terms of article 5 of 
title II of the constitution, and to sign the record, which shall 
be signed without expense to them. 

3. Those of the clergymen of the catholic religion who have 
given the example of submission to the laws and of attach- 
ment to their fatherland in taking the civic oath, according 
to the form prescribed by the decree of November 27, 1790, 
and who have not retracted it, are dispensed from any new 
formality; they are to be without exception maintained in all 
the rights which have been attributed to them by preceding 
decrees. 

4. As to the other ecclesiastics, none of them may hence- 
forth receive, claim, or obtain pension or salary out of the 
public treasury, except by presenting proof of the taking of 
the civic oath, in conformity with article i above. 

6. Besides the forfeiture of all salary and pension, the 
ecclesiastics who shall have refused to take the civic oath, or 
who shall retract it after having taken it, by this refusal or 
this retraction shall be reputed suspects of revolt against the 
law and of bad intention against the fatherland, and as such 
shall be more especially subjected to and recommended to the 
surveillance of all the constituted authorities. 

7. In consequence, every ecclesiastic having refused to take 
the civic oath (or who shall retract it after having taken it) 
who is present in a commune wherein there shall occur dis- 
turbances of which religious opinions shall be the cause or 
pretext may be provisionally removed from the place of his 
usual domicile, in virtue of an order of the department direc- 
tory, upon the notification of that of the district, without 
prejudice to the denunciation to the tribunals, according to 
the gravity of the circumstances. 

8. In case of disobedience to the order of the department 
directory the offenders shall be prosecuted in the tribunals and 



I02 • Letter to King of Prussia 

punished by imprisonment in the head-town of the depart- 
ment. The term of this imprisonment shall not exceed one 
year. 



18. Letter of Louis XVI to the King of 
Prussia. 

December 3, 1791. Feuillet De Conches, Louis XVI, Marie An- 
toinette, et Madame Elizabeth, IV, 269-271. 

This letter is selected out of many written from the French 
court in 1791-1792, suggesting or soliciting outside interference 
in behalf of the authority of the king. At the time, the existence 
of this correspondence, though strongly suspected, was not pos- 
itively known. 

Paris, December 3, 1791. 

Monsieur my Brother, I have learned through M. du Mous- 
tier of the interest which Your Majesty had expressed not 
only for my person, but also for the welfare of my kingdom. 
The disposition of Your Majesty towards me in giving these 
proofs in all the cases -where that interest might be useful for 
the welfare of my people, has warmly aroused my sensibility. 
I lay claim to it with confidence in this moment, wherein, de- 
spite the acceptance which I have made of the new constitu- 
tion, the factions openly exhibit the project of destroying en- 
tirely the remnants of the monarchy. I have just addressed 
myself to the Emperor, the Empress of Russia, the king's of 
Spain and Sweden, and presented to them the idea of a con- 
gress of the principal powers of Europe, supported by an 
armed f®rce, as the best manner to check the factions here, to 
give the means to establish a more desirable order of things, 
and to prevent the evil which afflicts us from being able to 
take possession of the other states of Europe. I hope that 
Your Majesty will approve of my ideas and that you will pre- 
serve the most absolute secrecy upon the step that I have taken 
with you. You will easily realize that the circumstances in 
which I find myself compel the greatest circumspection on my 
part. That is why only the Baron de Breteuil is informed of 
my projects, and Your Majesty can communicate to him what 
you shall wish. I take this occasion to thank Your Majesty 
for the acts of kindness which you have shown to M. Hey- 



Declaration of War against Austria 103 

man, and I experience a real delight in giving to Your Maj- 
esty the assurances of esteem and affection with which I am, 

Louis. 

19. Declaration of War against Austria. 

April 20, 1792. Duvergier, Lois, IV, 117-118. 

The outbreak of the war between France and Austria in 1792 
was one of the turning points of the revolution. This document 
contains a concise statement of one class of the causes which pro- 
duced the war, i.e., the avowed causes from the French stand- 
point. 

References. Gardiner, French Revolution, 101-105 ; Mathews, 
French Revolution, 191-193 ; Cambridge Modern History, VIII, 219- 
220, 398-400 : Clapham, Cause of the War of 1102, Chs. vi-ix : La- 
visse and Rambaud, Histoire generale, VIII, 126-128 ; Sorel, 
L'Europe et la revolution frangaise, II, 516-520. 

The National Assembly, deliberating upon the formal pro- 
position of the king; considering that the court of Vienna, in 
contempt of the treaties, has not ceased to grant an open pro- 
tection to the French rebels ; that it has instigated and formed 
a concert with several powers of Europe against the inde- 
pendence and security of the French nation ; 

That Francis I, King of Hungary and Bohemia, has, by bis 
notes of March 18 and April 7 last, refused to renounce this 
concert ; 

That, despite the proposition which has been made to him 
by the note of March 11, 1792, to reduce on both sides to the 
peace basis the troops upon the frontiers, he has continued and 
augmented hostile preparations ; 

That he has formally attacked the sovereignty of the 
French nation, in declaring his determination to support tlie , 
pretentions of the German princes to possessions in France, for 
which the French nation has not ceased to offer indemnities : 

That he has sought to divide the French citizens and to 
arm them against each other, by offering to the malcontents 
a support in the concert of the powers ; 

Considering, finally, that the refusal to reply to the last 
despatches of the King of the French leaves no longer any 
hope of obtaining, by way of an amicable negotiation, the re- 
dress of these different grievances and is equivalent to a 
declaration of war ; 

Decrees that there is urgency. 



104 Three Revolutionary Decrees 

The National Assembly declares that the French nation, 
faithful to the principles consecrated by its constitution, not 
to undertake any war zmth a viezu to makmg conquests, and 
never to employ its forces against the liberty of any people, 
takes arms only to maintain its liberty and its independence ; 

That the war which it is forced to sustain is not a war 
of nation against nation, but the just defence of a free peo- 
ple against the unjust aggression of a king. 

That the French will never confound their brothers with 
their real enemies; that they will neglect nothing in order to 
alleviate the scourge of war, to spare and preserve property, 
and to cause to return upon those alone, who shall league 
themselves against its liberties, all the miseries, inseparable 
from war; 

That it adopts in advance all foreigners, who, abjuring the 
cause of its enemies, shall come to range themselves under 
its banners and to consecrate their efforts to the defence of 
its liberty; that it will favor also, by all the means which are 
in its power, their establishment in France. 

Deliberating upon the formal proposition of the King, and 
after having decreed urgency, [the National Assembly] de- 
crees war against the King of Hungary and Bohemia. 



20. The Three Revolutionary Decrees. 

These three decrees were passed by the Legislative Assembly 
amid the excitement produced by the unexpected Austrian victories 
on the French frontier. Inspired by doubt regarding the liing's 
competency and loyalty to the nation, they became important fac- 
tors in producing the movement which finally resulted in the sus- 
pension of Louis XVI on the 10th of August. To document B 
the king gave a reluctant consent ; the other two were rejected. 

References. Gardiner, French Revolution, 111-112 ; Mathews, 
French Revolution, 193-195 ; Camiridge Modern History, VIII, 227 ; 
Aulard, Revolution francaise, 189 : Stephens, French Revolution, 
II, 78-82 ; Jaurfes, Histoire socialiste, II, 1175-1202. 

A. Decree for the Deportation of the Non-juring Priests. 
May 27, 1792. Duvergier, Lois, IV, 177-178. 

The National Assembly, after having heard the report of 
its committee of twelve, considering that the troubles ex- 



Three Revolutionary Decrees 105 

cited within the kingdom by the non-juring ecclesiastics re- 
quire that it should apply itself without delay to the means 
of suppressing them, decrees that there is urgency; 

The National Assembly, considering that the efforts to 
overthrow the constitution, to which the non-juring ecclesi- 
astics are continually devoting themselves, do not permit it 
to be supposed that these ecclesiastics desire to unite in the 
social compact, and that it would compromise the public safe- 
ty to regard for a longer time as members of society the men 
who evidently are seeking to dissolve it ; considering that the 
laws are without force against these men, who, operating up- 
on the consciences in order to mislead them, .nearly always 
conceal their criminal maneuvers from the attention of those 
who might be able to cause them to be repressed and pun- 
ished; after having decreed urgency, decrees as follows: 

1. The deportation of the non-juring ecclesiastics shall 
take place as a measure of public security and of general 
police, in the case and according to the forms hereinafter set 
forth. 

2. All those are considered as non-juring ecclesiastics, 
who, being liable for the oath prescribed by the law of De- 
cember 26, 1790, may not have taken the oath; also those who, 
not being subject to that law, have not taken the civic oath 
subsequent to September 3 last, the day whereon the French 
constitution was declared completed ; finally, those who shall 
have retracted either oath. 

3. When twenty active citizens of the same canton shall 
unite to ask for the deportation of a non-juring ecclesiastic, 
the department directory shall be required to pronounce the 
deportation, if the opinion of the district directory is in con- ■ 
formity with the petition. 

4. When the opinion of the district directory shall be in 
conformity with the petition, the department directory shall 
be required to cause commissioners to ascertain by examina- 
tion whether the presence of the ecclesiastic or ecclesiastics 
denounced is injurious to the public tranquility, and upon the 
opinion of these commissioners, if it is in conformity with the 
petition, the department directory shall be required to pro- 
nounce the deportation. 

5. In case a non-juring ecclesiastic may have excited 



io6 Three Revolutionary Decrees 

disturbances by overt acts, the facts may be denounced to the 
department directory by one or several active citizens, and 
after the verification of the facts, the deportation shall like- 
wise be pronounced. 

i6. Those of the ecclesiastics against whom deportation 
shall have been pronounced, who may remain within the king- 
dom after having declared their retirement, or who may re- 
turn after their departure, shall be condemned to the penalty 
of imprisonment for ten years. 

B. Decree for Disbanding the King's Body Guard. May 
29, 1792. Duvergier, LoiSj IV, 180-181. 

The National Assembly, considering that the admission 
into the existing paid guard of the king of a large number 
of persons who do not meet the conditions required for that 
service by the constitutional act ; that the spirit of incivism 
with which that body is generally animated and the conduct of 
its higher officers excite just alarms and may compromise the 
personal security of the king and the public tranquility, de- 
crees as follows : 

1. The existing paid guard of the king is disbanded, and 
it shall be renewed without delay in conformity with the 
laws. 

2. Until this renewal of the paid guard of the king, the 
Parisian guard shall do service about his person, just as and 
in the same manner as it did before the establishment of the 
paid guard. 

C. Decree for Establishing a Camp of Federes. June S, 
1792. Moniteur, June 9, 1792. {Reimpression, XII, 607.) 

The National Assembly, deliberating upon the proposal 
of the minister of war converted into a motion by a member, 
and after having heard the report of its military committee, 
considering that it is urgent to convey to the frontiers the 
troops of the line who are in the capital ; considering that it 
is important to remove every hope of the enemies of the pub- 
lic weal who are devising conspiracies in the interior; consid- 



Petition of the 20th of June 107 

ering that it is advantageous to draw still closer at the time 
of the 14th of July the ties which unite the national guards 
of all the other departments with those of Paris, who have 
served the revolution so well and merited so well of the father- 
land by an unlimited devotion and an arduous and constant 
service, decrees that there is urgency. 

The National Assembly, after having decreed urgency, de- 
crees as follows : 

I. The armed force already decreed shall be augmented 
by 20,000 men. 

3. The 20,oco additional men shall assemble at Paris on 
the 14th of July next. 

8. No citizen shall be allowed to enroll himself who has 
not done personal service in the national guard since July 14, 
1790, or since the formation of the national guard of the can- 
ton of his commune, or lastly since he has reached the age 
of 18 years, unless, however, upon leaving the troops of the 
line with a discharge in regular form he has directly entered 
the national guard. 

He shall be required, besides, upon presenting himself for 
enrollment, to deliver to the municipality a certificate of civ- 
ism of the officers, under-officers and national guards of the 
company in which he served. 



21. The Petition of the 20th of June. 

June 20, 1792. Moniteur, June 22, 1792 (Reimpression, XII, 
717). 

This petition was carried to thie Legislative Assembly by the 
great crowd which after presenting it broke into the Tuileries on 
.Tune 20, 1792. Two features of it deserve attention: (1) what 
it shows as to the state of mind of the people of Paris. (2) the 
precise character of its demand in regard to the Icing. The prog- 
ress of events may be traced by comparing it with No. 23. 

References. Gardiner, French Revolution, 111-114 ; Mathews, 
French Revolution, 195-197 ; Stephens, French Revolution, II, 82- 
97 ; Cambridge Modern History, VIII, 228-230 ; Jaurfes, Histoire 
sociaUste, II, 1203-1210. 

Legislators, the French people come today to present to you 



io8 Petition of the 20th of June 

their fears and their anxieties; it is in your midst that they 
set forth their alarms and that they hope to find at last the 
remedy for their ills. This day recalls the memorable date of 
the 20th of June, the tennis court in which the representatives 
of the people met and swore in the face of heaven not to 
abandon our cause and to die in defence of it. 

Recall, gentlemen, that sacred oath and allow these same 
people, afflicted in their turn, to ask you if you will abandon 
them. In the name of the nation, which has fixed its eyes 
upon this city, we come to assure you that the people are 
aroused, that they are equal to the occasion and are ready to 
make use of unusual methods in order to avenge the majesty 
of the outraged people. These extreme means are justified 
by article 2 of the Declaration of the Rights of Man, resis- 
tance lo oppression. 

What a misfortune, however, for the free men whO' have en- 
trusted to you all their powers to see themselves reduced to 
the cruel necessity of steeping their hands in the blood of 
the conspirators ! It is no longer time to conceal it : the plot 
is discovered; the hour has arrived. Blood will flow or the 
tree of liberty which we are about to plant will blossom in 
peace. 

Leg-islators, do not let this language astonish you. We do 
not belong to any party; we do not wish to adopt anything 
other than what shall be in accord with the constitution. Did 
the enemies of the fatherland imagine that the men of the 
i/|th of July are asleep? If they had that appearance, their 
awakening is terrible; they have lost none of their energy. 
The immortal Declaration of the Rights of Man is too pro- 
foundly graven upon their hearts. That precious boon, that 
boon of all the nations, will be defended by them and nothing 
will be capable of depriving them of it. It is time, gentle- 
men, to put in execution that article 2 of the Rights of Man. 
Follow the example of the Ciceros and Demosthenes and un- 
veil in open senate the perfidious machinations of the Cata- 
lines. You have men animated by the sacred fire of patriot- 
ism : let them speak, and we will act. It is in you that the 
public safety now resides. We have always believed that our 
union made our strength. Union and general harmony ought 
to rule in a still greater degree among you ; we have always 
believed that when the interests of the state were under dis- 



Petition of the 20th of June 109 

cussion they alone ought to be looked to, and that the legis- 
lator ought to have a heart inaccessible to any individual in- 
terest. The image of the fatherland being the sole divinity 
which it is permissible to adore, could that divinity so dear 
to all Frenchmen exist even in its temple, for deserters from 
its worship? could it live? Let the friends of arbitrary power 
speak ! let them make themselves known ! The people, the 
true sovereign, is there to judge them. Their place is not 
here ; let the land of liberty be purged of them ; let them go 
to Coblentz to join the emigres. Near them, their hearts will 
expand; there the}'- will distill their venom; they will plot 
without regret; there they will conspire against their father- 
land which will never tremble. 

It was thus that Cicero spoke in the senate of Rome, when 
he was pressing the traitor Cataline to go to join the camp of 
the traitors to the fatherland. Then cause to be carried into 
effect the constitution and the will of the people who sustain 
you, and who will perish in order to defend you. Unite, act ; 
it is time. Yes, it is time, legislators, that the French people 
show themselves worthy of the character which they have as- 
sumed. They have overthrown prejudices; they intend to re- 
main free and to deliver themselves from the tyrants leagued 
against them. \ ou know the tyrants ; do not yield before 
them, since a simple declaration often overwhelms the will of 
despots. 

The executive power is not in accord with you. We do not 
wish for any other proof of it than the dismissal of the pa- 
triotic ministers. Is it thus then that the welfare of a free 
people shall depend upon the caprice of a king? but ought 
this king to have any other will than that of the law? The 
people willed him thus ; and their head is indeed worth that 
of the crowned despots. That head is the genealogical tree 
of the nation ; and before that robust oak, the feeble reed 
must bend. 

We complain, gentlemen, of the inaction of our armies. 
We ask that you ascertain the cause' of it. If it springs from 
the executive power, let it be abolished! The blood of the 
patriots ought not to flow to satisfy the arrogance and am- 
bition of the perfidious chateau of the Tuileries. 

Who then can stop us in our march ? Shall we behold our 
armies perish by parts? The caiise being a common one, the 



no Addresses to the Assembly 

action ought to be general; and if the first defenders of lib- 
erty had thus temporised, would you have been sitting today 
in this august areopagus? 

Reflect well herein : nothing can stop you ; liberty cannot be 
suspended. If the executive power does not act, there can be 
no other alternative ; it is that which must cease to be ; a 
single man must not influence the determination of 25 millions 
of men. If, out of respect, we maintain him in his post, it 
is on condition that he will fill it constitutionally; if he devi- 
ates therefrom he is no longer anything to the French people. 

We complain, finally, of the delays of the high national 
court : you have entrusted to it the sword of the law ; why 
does it wait to lay a heavy hand upon the head of the guilty? 
Has the civil list here again some influence? Are there priv- 
ileged criminals whom it may with impunity shelter from 
the vengeance of the law? Shall the people be forced to go 
back to the date of the 14th of July, to take up that sword 
again themselves, to avenge at a single stroke the outraged 
law, and to punish the guilty and pusillanimous depositories 
of that same law? No, gentlemen, no; you see our fears and 
our alarms, and you will dissipate them. 

We have set forth in your midst a great anguish ; we have 
opened our long since embittered hearts; we hope, that the 
last cry which we address to you will make itself felt among 
you. The people are there ; they await in silence a response 
worthy of their sovereignty. Legislators, we ask for the 
permanence of our arms until the constitution be put into 
execution. 

This petition is not that of the inhabitants of the faubourg 
Saint-Antoine alone, but of all the sections of the capital and 
of the environs of Paris. The petitioners of this address ask 
to have the honor of filing before you. 



22, Addresses to the Legislative Assembly. 

These addresses are typical of the many sent to the Legislative 
Assembly from all parts of France between June 20 and' August 
10, 1792. From them much may be learned about the character 
of the movement which finally resulted in the suspension of the 
king. Both the reasons assigned for action against him and the 
measures demanded should receive attention. 

Rf.ferexce. Aniard. Rc'-olntion francoifie, 192-205, has a 
careful study of the entire series of addresses. 



Addresses to the Assembly in 

A. Address of the Commune of Marseilles, June 27, 1792. 
Archives parlementaires, XLVI, 383-384. 

Legislators, the nation entrusts to you the maintenance and 
defence of its liberty, its independence, and the sovereignty 
■ot its rights. The law relative tO' royalty, which your prede- 
cessors established, without any regard for the objections and 
complaints of the nation, is contrary to the rights of man. 
It is time that that tyrannical law should be finally abolished, 
that the nation should make use of all its rights, and that it 
should govern itself. 

Legislators, the principles of the constitution of every 
free nation, which your predecessors have decreed, which the 
French have adopted, and which they have sworn to defend, 
give us the right to these. These are : "Men are "born and 
remain free and equal m rights. Social distinctions can be 
based only upon public utility." 

"The aim of every political association is the preservation 
of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. These rights 
are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression." 

"All citizens are equal in the eyes of the law ; all are equally 
admissible to all the dignities, public places and employments, 
according to their capacities, and without any other distinc- 
tion than that of their virtues and their talents." 

Such, legislators, are the eternal foundations of all polit- 
ical principles. Anything which is contrary to these princi- 
ples ought to be rejected from a free constitution. How then 
could our Constituents, your predecessors, establish upon 
these foundations that monstrous pretension of a special fam- 
ily to which should be delegated hereditarily the crown, from 
male to male, by order of primogeniture? How can there be 
that reigning family in a time in which everything must be 
regenerated? What has that reigning family done to be pre- 
ferred to every other? Is it necessary to make a law for the 
inviolability of one person? Does that inviolability guaran- 
tee him against the steel of assassins? Is not the privilege 
subversive of every principle? Who would recognize there 
the principles of that sovereign reason which had consecrated 
the imprescriptible rights of man, in decreeing that there 
should no longer exist any hereditary distinction? Is this 
supreme distinction founded upon public utility? Who is the 



112 Addresses to the Assembly 

wise Constituent who can assure and guarantee that the son 
ot the greatest and most just of kings will be like his father? 
that he will not be a traitor, a scoundrel? Would it be nec- 
essary, then, in conformity with that pernicious law, that al- 
though he should be depraved, he might with impunity bring 
wretchedness upon men who^m that same law submitted to the 
fury of his crimes? No, legislators, it is only the hired abet- 
tors of tyranny who have been capable of abandoning them- 
selves to that delirium ! and it is in the sanctuary destined 
for the triumph of liberty, reason, and justice, that that 
usurped pretension has obtained the force of law ! What in- 
famy! The nation cannot subscribe to it. It once made vain 
objections; it desires today that they may be effective. It 
has the incontestable right to approve or to reject the laws 
which its representatives impose upon it, since it is the only 
sovereign. 

What has this ruling family done to be elevated to this 
post? Was it the ruin of our finances, was it the sceptre of 
iron with which it ruled us who had prepared that homage, 
while robbing us of our gold and exhausting our substance? 
or, indeed, was it the hereditary descendants of that family, 
prolific of rebellious emigres, who, charged with debts, ac- 
cusations and crimes, our Constituents would have wished to 
force us to recognize as master? Do not be offended by that 
word, legislators, it signifies nothing for us. But such is 
the pretension of kings, such is the intention of cowards and 
slaves. 

May not the gold of that enormous civil list, which cannot 
be diminished before the date of each change of reign, per- 
petuate the means of corruption? and may not these means 
ruin the nation before it has the right to abolish them? And 
that independent guard which our Constituents have granted 
to their king and which the nation pays by keeping up the 
civil list, can there be a private force by the terms of the Rights 
of Man? And if it is a public force, can it serve the king alone? 
And that law, by which the choice and dismissal of the min- 
isters belong to the king alone, is it not, despite their pre- 
tended responsibility, an inexhaustible source of abuses, crimes 
and disorders, a source of eternal divisions and contradictions? 
And, finally, that suspensive veto, put in opposition to our 



Addresses to the Assembly 113 

best laws by the authority of a single person and corltrary to 
the general will, does it not radically destroy our constitution ? 
Can the legislative power exist in the presence of that de- 
structive law of the absolute executive power? And can the 
judicial power, to which the legislative power gives existence 
and life, continue to be effective, if the executive power par- 
alyzes our laws? 

Avow, legislators, that our Constituents have settled noth- 
ing at all ; and if you wish to be something, if you wish to be 
useful to the nation, abrogate a law which renders null the 
national will. 

We all know the history of our disasters, it would be 
useless to recall it. The indignation which it provokes has 
reached its climax. Let us make haste to destroy the cause 
and to re-establish ourselves in our rights. Let the execu- 
tive power be appointed and renewed by the people, as are, 
with some slight differences, the other two powers, and soon 
all will be re-established. 

Done at Marseilles, at the communal building, June 27, the 
fourth year of liberty. 

B. Address of the Fcdercs at Paris, July 23, 1792. Ar- 
chives parlementaires, XLVII, 69-70. 

Representatives elected by the people to defend and pre- 
serve their rights, listen to-day once more to the cry of their 
grief. 

Some weeks have passed since you declared that the father- 
land was in danger and you do not indicate to us any means 
of saving it. Can you still ignore the cause of our evils, or 
ignore the remedies for them? Well, legislators, we citizens 
of the 83 departments, we, whom love of liberty alone has 
brought here, we, who are strong in the deliberate and strong- 
ly pronounced opinion of all the French, point out to you 
that remedy. We say to you that the source of our evils is 
in the abuse which the head of the executive power has made 
of his authority; we say to you that it is also in the staffs of 
the army, in a large portion of the department and district 
directories and in the tribunals. Let us say to you once more, 
with the frankness of a free people and one which holds it- 
self ready to defend its rights, that it exists in part in your 
midst. 



114 Addresses to the Assembly 

Legislators, the peril is imminent, it can no longer be dis- 
simulated, it is necessary that the reign of the truth com- 
mence; we are courageous enough to come to tell it to you, 
be courageous enough to hear it. 

Deliberate, during the sitting and without leaving the 
place, upon the one means to remedy our evils ; suspend the 
executive power as was done last year ; thereby you will cut 
the root of all our evils. We know that the constitution does 
not speak of deposition; but in order to declare that the king 
has forfeited the throne it is necessary to try him, and in or- 
der to try him it is necessary that the king should be tem- 
porarily suspended. Convoke the primary assemblies, in or- 
der to put yourselves in a position to learn, in an indirect 
manner, the desire of the majority of the people for the na- 
tional convocation upon the so-called constitutional articles 
relative to the executive power. 

Legislators, there is not an hour nor a second to lose, the 
evil is at its height, avert from your fatherland a universal 
shock, make use of all the power which is entrusted to you 
and save it yourselves. Would you fear to call down upon 
your heads a terrible responsibility, or indeed (what we can- 
not believe) would you wish to give to the nation a proof of 
impotency? There would remain to it no more than one re- 
source, that of displaying all its strength and sweeping away 
its tyrants. We have all, both you and we, sworn a hundred 
times to live free and to die in defending our rights. Well, 
we have come to renew that oath which makes despots trem- 
ble when it is pronounced by men who know how to feel 
strongly. We shall either emerge from this conflict free ar 
else the tomb of liberty shall be ours. 

C. Address of the Paris Sections. August 3, 1792. Archives 
parleinentaires, XLVIL 425-427. 

Legislators, it is when the fatherland is in danger that all 
its children ought to press around it; and never has so great 
a peril threatened the fatherland. The commune of Paris 
sends us to you; we come to bring into the sanctuary of the 
laws the opinion of an immense city. Filled with respect for 
the representatives of the nation, full of confidence in their 
courageous patriotism, it has not despaired of the publi-. 



Addresses to the Assembly 115 

safety; but it believes that to cure the ills of France it is 
necessary to attack them in their source and not to lose a mo- 
ment. It is with grief that it denounces to you, through our 
agency, the head of the executive power. Without doubt, the 
people have the right to be indignant with him; but the lan- 
guage of anger does not befit brave men. Compelled by Louis 
XVI to accuse him before you and before all France, we shall 
accuse him without bitterness as without pusillanimous defer- 
ence. It is no longer time to listen to that protracted indul- 
gence which befits generous peoples, but which encourages 
kings to perjury; and the most respectable passions must be 
silent when the saving of the state is in question. 

We shall not retrace for you the entire conduct of Louis 
XVI since the first days of the revolution, his sanguinary 
projects against the city of Paris, his predilection for nobles 
and priests, the aversion which he exhibited to the body of 
the people, the National Constituent Assembly outraged by 
court valets, invested by men of arms, wandering in the midst 
of a royal city and finding an asylum only in a tennis court. 
We shall not retrace for you the oaths so many times vio- 
lated, the protestations renewed incessantly and incessantly 
contradicted by actions, up to the moment at which a perfid- 
ious flight came to open the eyes of the citizens most blinded 
by the fanaticism of slavery. We shall leave at one side 
everything which is covered by the pardon of the people ; but 
pardon is not oblivion. It would be in vain, imoreover, should 
we be able to forget these delinquencies; they will soil the 
pages of history and posterity will remember them. 

Meanwhile, legislators, it is our duty to remind you in rapid 
terms of the favors co.nferred by the nation upon Louis XV^I 
and of the ingratitude of that prince. How many reasons 
there were for depriving him of the throne at the moment in 
which the people reconquered the sovereignty ! The memorv 
of an imperious and devouring dynasty, in which scarce- 
ly one king is reckoned against twenty tyrants, the hereditary 
despotism increasing from reign to reign with the misery of 
the people, the public finances entirely ruined by Louis XVI 
and his two predecessors, infamous treaties ruining the na- 
tional honor, the eternal enemies of France becoming its al- 
lies and its masters: these are what constituted the rig'hts of 
Louis XVI to the constitutional sceptre. The nation, faith- 



ii6 Addresses to the Assembly 

ful to its character, has preferred to be generous rather than 
prudent; the despot of an enslaved land has become the king 
of a free people : after having attempted to flee from France, 
in order to reign at Coblentz, he has been replaced upon the 
throne, perhaps contrary to the wish of the nation which ought 
to have been consulted. 

Favors without number have followed that great favor. 
We have seen in the last days of the Constituent Assembly 
the rights of the people enfeebled in order to strengthen the 
royal authority, the first public functionary becom.e an hered- 
itary representative, a military establishment created for the 
splendor of his throne, and his legal authority supported by 
a civil list which has no other limits than those which he 
has wished to prescribe for it. 

And we have speedily seen the favors of the .nation turned 
against it. The power delegated to Louis XVI for the main- 
tenance of liberty , takes arms in order to overthrow it. Let 
us cast a glance over the interior of the kingdom. Perverse 
mmisters are removed by the irresistible force of public con- 
tempt ; they are the ones for whom Louis XVI mourns. 
Their successors notify the nation and the king of the danger 
which surrounds the fatherland ; they are dismissed by Louis 
XVI for having shown themselves citizens. The royal invio- 
lability and the perpetual change of the ministry each day 
elude the responsibility of the ag'ents of the executive power. 
A conspiring guard is dissolved in appearance ; but it still 
exists : it is still paid by Louis XVI ; it sows trouble and pro- 
motes civil war. Turbulent priests, abusing their power over 
timid consciences, arm children against their fathers ; and 
from the land of liberty they send forth new soldiers under 
the banners of servitude. These enemies of the people are 
protected by the appeal to the people, and Louis XVI main- 
tains for them the right to conspire. Coalesced department 
directories dare to constitute themselves arbiters between the 
National Assembly and the king. They form a species of 
dispersed high chamber in the midst of the kingdom ; some 
even usurp the legislative authority ; and in consequence of a 
profound ignorance, while declaiming against the republi- 
cans, they seem to wish to organize France into a federative 
republic. It is in the name of the king that they inflame in- 
testinal divisions ; and the king does not disavow with indig- 



Addresses to the Assembly 117 

nation two hundred stupid and guilty administrators repudi- 
ated from one end of France to the other by the immense 
majority of the administrations ! 

Abroad, armed enemies threaten our territoiy. Two des- 
pots publish against the French nation a manifesto as insolent 
as absurd. French parricides, led by the brothers, kinsmen 
and connections of the king, prepare to rend the bosom of 
their fatherland. Already the enemy upon our frontiers 
places executioners in opposition to our warriors. And it 
is to avenge Louis XVI that the national sovereignty is im- 
pudently outraged; it is to avenge Louis XVI that the ex- 
ecrable house of Austria adds a new chapter to the history 
of its cruelties; it is to avenge Louis XVI that the tyrants 
have renewed the wish of Caligula, and that they would wish 
to destroy at a single blow all the citizens of France! 

The flattering promises of a minister have caused the 
declaration of war, and we have commenced it with armies 
incomplete and destitute of everything. 

Belgium calls upon us in vain ; perverse orders have re- 
strained the ardor of our soldiers ; our .first steps into those 
fair countries have been marked by conflagration; and the 
incendiary is still in the midst of the camp of the French! 
All the decrees which the National Assembly have rendered 
for the purpose of re-enforcing our troops are annulled by 
the refusal of the sanction or by perfidious delays. And the 
enemy advances with rapid steps, while patricians command 
the armies of equality, while our generals leave their posts 
in the face of the enemy, permit the armed force to deliber- 
ate, come to present to the legislators their opinions which 
cannot be legally expressed, and calumniate a ■ free people 
whom it is their duty to defend. 

The head of the executive pov/er is the first link in the 
counter revolutionary chain. He seems to participate in the 
conspiracies of Pilnitz, which he has made known so lately. 
His name contends each day against that of the nation ; his 
name is a signal of discord between the people and their 
magistrates, between the soldiers and the generals. He has 
separated his interests from those of the nation. Let us sep- 
arate them as he has done. Far from putting himself by a 
formal act in opposition to the enemies within and without. 



ii8 The Brunswick Manifesto 

his conduct is a formal and perpetual act of disobedience to 
the constitution. As long as we shall have such a king, lib- 
erty cannot strengthen itself; and we are determined to re- 
main free. By a stretch of indulgence we might have de- 
sired authority to ask you for the suspension of Louis XVI 
as long as the danger of the fatherland shall continue ; but 
the constitution precludes that. Louis XVI invokes the con- 
stitution incessantly ; we invoke it in our turn and ask for his 
deposition. 

That great measure once taken, since it is very doubtful 
whether the nation can have confidence in the present dy- 
nasty, we ask that ministers, jointly and severally responsible, 
selected by the National Ass■•:;n^bly, but outside of its own 
body, according to the constitutional law, selected by the 
open vote of free men, exercise provisionally the executive 
power, while waiting for the will of the people, our sover- 
eign and yours, to be legally pronounced in a national con- 
vention, as soon as the security of the state may permit it. 
Meanwhile let our enemies, whoever they may be, all range 
themselves beyond our frontiers; let dastards and perjurers 
abandon the soil of liberty ; let 300,000 slaves advance ; they 
will find before them 10 millions of free men, as ready for 
death as for victory, fighting for equality, for the paternal 
roof, for their wives, their children and their aged ones. Let 
each of us be soldiers in turn ; and if it is necessary to have 
the honor of dying for the fatherland, before yielding th'e 
last breath, let each of us make his memory illustrious by 
the death of a slave or a tyrant. 

23. The Duke of Brunswick's Manifesto. 

July 25, 1792. Archives parlementaires, XLVII, 372-373. 

Thi.s document sealed the fate of the old monarchy. Reaching 
Paris at the time when the agitation for the suspension of the 
king had already attained great strength, it gave the final im- 
pulse to that movement. Its authorship has been much discussed 
and it is now clear that the document was substantially the work 
of Emigres. 

References. Gardiner, French Revolution, 114-115 ; Mathews, 
French Revolution, 198-199 ; Stephens, French Revoluton, II, 105- 
106 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire generale, VITI. 139-140 : Sor- 
el. L'Europe et la revolution franiiaise, II, 503-515 ; Jaures, His- 
toire sncialiste, II, 1269-1274. 



The Brunswick Manifesto 119 

Their Majesties, the Emperor and the King of Prussia, 
having committed to me the command of the united armies 
which they have caused to assemble on the frontiers of 
France, I have wished to announce to the inhabitants of this 
kingdom, the motives which have determined the measures 
of the two sovereigns and the intentions which guide them. 

After having arbitrarily suppressed the rights and posses- 
sions of the German princes in Alsace and Lorraine, disturbed 
and overthrown good order and legitimate government in 
the interior; exercised against the sacred person of the king 
and his august family outrages and brutalities which are 
still carried on and renewed day by day; thos.e who have 
usurped the reins of the administration have at last com- 
pleted their work by declaring an unjust war against His 
Majest}'- the Emperor and by attacking his provinces situa- 
ted in the Low Countries. Some of the possessions of the 
Germanic Empire have been enveloped in this oppression, 
and several others have only escaped the same danger by 
yielding to the imperious threats of the dominant party and 
of its emissaries. 

His Majesty the King of Prussia, united with his Impe- 
rial Majesty by the bonds of a strict defensive alliance and 
himself the preponderant member of the Germanic body, 
could not excuse himself from marching to the help of his 
ally and his co-state; and it is under this double relationship 
that he takes up the defence of this monarch and of Ger- 
many. 

To these great interests is added another aim equally im- 
portant and very dear to the hearts of the two sovereigns ; 
it is to put an end to the anarchy in the interior of France, 
to stop the attacks carried on against the throne and the 
altar, to re-establish the legal power, to restore to the king 
the security and liberty of which he is deprived, and to put 
him in a position to exercise the legitimate authoritj' which 
is his due. 

Convinced that the sound part of the French nation ab- 
hors the excesses of a faction which dominates it, and that 
the greatest number of the inhabitants look forward witli 
impatience to the moment of relief to declare themselves 
openly against the odious enterprises of their oppressors. His 



120 The Brunswick Manifesto 

Majesty the Emperor and His Majesty the King of Prussia, 
call upon them and invite them to return without delay to 
the ways of reason, justice, order and peace. It is in accord- 
ance with these views, that I, the undersigned, the General, 
commanding in chief the two armies, declare : 

1. That, drawn into the present war 'by irresistible cir- 
cumstances, the two allied courts propose to themselves no 
other aim than the welfare of France and have no intention 
of enriching themselves by conquests ; 

2. That they do not intend to meddle with the internal 
government of France, but that they merely wish to deliver 
the king, the queen and the royal family from their captiv- 
ity, and to procure for His Most Christian Maj esty the neces- 
sary security that he may make without danger or hindrance 
the conventions which he shall judge suitable and may work 
for the welfare of his subjects, according to his promises and 
as far as it shall depend upon him; 

3. That the combined armies will protect the towns, bor- 
oughs and villages and the persons and goods of those who 
shall submit to the king and who shall co-operate in the im- 
mediate re-establishment of order and of the police in the 
whole of France; 

4. That the national guard will be called upon to 
watch provisionally over the peace of the towns and coun- 
try districts, the security of the persons and goods of all 
Frenchmen, until the arrival of the troops of their Imperial 
and Royal Majesties, or until otherwise ordered, under pain 
of being personally responsible ; that on the contrary, thosie 
of the national guard who shall fight against the troops of 
the two allied courts, and who shall be taken with arms in 
their hands, will be treated as enemies and punished as rebels 
to their king and as disturbers of the public peace ; 

5. That the generals, officers, under officers and troops 
of the French line are likewise summoned to return to their 
former fidelity and to submit themselves at once to the king, 
their legitimate sovereign ; 

6. That the members of the departments, of the districts 
and municipalities shall likewise ansiwer with their heads and 
their goods for all offences, fires, murders, pillaging, and acts 
of violence, which they shall allow to be committed, or which 



The Brunswick Manifesto 121 

they have not manifestly exerted themselves to prevent witilT- 
in their territory; that they shall likewise be required to con- 
tinue their functions provisionally, until His Most Christian 
Majesty, being ones more at liberty, may have provided for 
them subsequently or until it shall have been otherwise or- 
dained in his name in the meantime; 

7. That the inhabitants of the towns, boroughs and vil- 
lages who may dare to defend themselves against the troops 
of their Imperial and Royal Majesties and fire on them either 
in the open country, or through the windows, doors and 
openings of their houses, shall , be punished immediately ac- 
cording to the strictness of the law of war, and their houses 
destroyed or burned. On the contrary, all the inhabitants 
of the said towns, boroughs and villages, whO' shall submit 
to their king, opening their doors to the troops of their 
Majesties, shall at once be placed under their immediate pro- 
tection; their persons, their property, and their effects shall 
be under the protection of the laws, and the general security 
of all and each of them shall be provided for; 

8. The city of Paris and all its inhabitants without dis- 
tinction shall be required to submit at once and without de- 
lay to the king, to put that prince in full and perfect liberty, 
and to assure him as well as the other royal personages the 
inviolability and respect which the law of nations and men 
requires of subjects toward their sovereigns ; their Imperial 
and Royal Majesties declare personally responsible with their 
lives for all events, to be tried by military law and without 
hope of pardon, all the members of the National Assembly, 
of the department, district, municipality and national guard 
of Paris, the justices of the peace and all others that shall 
be concerned; their said Majesties also declare on their 
honor and on their word as Emperor and King, that if the 
chateau of the Tuileries be entered by force or attacked, if 
the least violence or outrage be offered to their Majesties, 
the king, queen and royal family, if their preservation and 
their liberty be not immediately provided for, they will exact 
an exemplary and ever-memorable vengeance, by delivering 
the city of Paris over to a military execution and to com- 
plete ruin, and the rebels guilty of these outrages to the pun- 
ishments they shall have deserved. Their Imperial and 



122 The Brunswick Manifesto 

Royal Majesties, on the contrary, promise the inhabitants of 
Paris to employ their good offices with His Most Christian 
Majesty to obtain pardon for their misdeeds and errors, a.nd 
to take the most vigorous measures to assure their lives and 
property, if they obey promptly and exactly all the above 
mentioned order. 

Finally, their Majesties being able to recognize as laws in 
France only those which shall emanate from the king, in the 
enjoyment of a perfect liberty, protest beforehand against 
the authenticity of any declarations which may be made in 
the name of His Most Christian Majesty, so long as his sa- 
cred person, that of the queen, and those of the royal family 
shall not be really in security, for the effecting of which theit 
Imperial and Royal Majesties beg His Most Christian Maj- 
esty to appoint the city in his kingdom nearest the frontiers, 
to which he would prefer to retire with the queen and his 
family under good and sufficient escort, which will be fur- 
nished him for this purpose, so that his most Christian Maj- 
esty may in all security summon such ministers and coun- 
cillors as he may see fit, hold such meetings as he deems 
best, provide for the re-establishment of good order a.nd reg- 
ulate the administration of his kingdom. 

Finally, I declare and bind myself, moreover, in my own 
private name and in my above capacity, to cause the troops 
entrusted to my command to observe a good and exact dis- 
cipline, promising to treat with kindness and moderation all 
well intentioned subjects who show themselves peaceful and 
submissive, and only to use force against those who shall 
make themselves guilty of resistance and ill-will. 

It is for these reasons that I call upon and exhort all the 
inhabitants of the kingdom in the strongest and most urgent 
manner not to oppose the march and the operations of the 
troops which I command, but rather to grant them every- 
where a free passage and with every good will to aid and 
assist as circumstances shall require. 

Given at the head-quarters at Coblentz, July 25, 1792. 

Signed, Charles-William Ferdinand, 
Duke of Brunswick-Lunebourg. 



Decree Suspending the King 123 



24, Decree for Suspending the King. 

August 10, 1792. Duvergier, Lois, IV, 290-291. 

This decree was passed by the Legislative Assembly after the 
storming of the Tuileries. Every feature of it is important. The 
precise action with reference to the king, the character of the 
provisional arrangements, and the phraseology of the document 
should receive careful attention. 

References. Stephens, French Revolution, II, 130-131 ; Au- 
lard. Revolution franoaise, 215-220. 

The National Assembly, considering that the dangers of 
the fatherland have reached their height; 

That it is for the legislative body the most sacred of du- 
ties to employ all means to save it ; 

That it is impossible to find efificacicus ones, unless they 
shall ocupy themselves with removing the source of its 
evils ; 

Considering that these evils spring principally from th.e 
misgivings which the conduct of the head of the executive 
power has inspired, in a war undertaken in his name against 
the constitution and the national independence; 

That these misgivings have provoked from different parts 
of the kingdom a desire tending to the revocation of the au- 
thority delegated to Louis XVI ; 

Considering, nevertheless, that the legislative body ought 
not to wish to aggrandize itself by any usurpation ; 

That m the extraordinary circum.stances wherein events 
unprovided for by any of the laws have placed it, it cannot 
reconcile what it owes, in its unshaken fidelity to the consti- 
tution, with the firm resolve to be buried under the ruins of 
the temple of liberty rather than to permit it to perish, ex- 
cept by recurring to the sovereignty of the people and by tak- 
ing at the same time the precautions which are indispensable, 
in order that this recourse may not be rendered illusory by 
treasons ; decrees as follows : 

1. The French people are invited to form a national con- 
vention; the extraordinary commission shall present tomor- 
row a proposal to indicate the method and the time of this 
convention. 

2. The head of the executive power is provisionally sus- 
pended from his. functions until the national convention has 



124 Decree Suspending the King 

pronounced upon the measures which it believes ought to be 
adopted in order to assure the sovereignty of the people and 
the reign of liberty and equality. 

3. The extraordinary commission shall present within 
the day a method for organizing a new ministry; the min- 
isters actually in service shall continue provisionally the ex- 
ercise of their functions. 

4. The extraordinary commission shall present, likewise, 
within the day, a proposal for a decree upon the selection of 
a governor for the prince royal. 

5. The payment of the civil list shall continue suspended 
until the decision of the national convention. The extraordi- 
nary commission shall present, within twenty-four hours, a 
proposal for a decree upon the stipend to be granted to i;he 
king during the suspension. 

6. The registers of the civil list shall be deposited in the 
office of the National Assembly, after having been numbered 
and attested by two commissioners of the assembly, who 
shall repair for that purpose to the intendant of the civil list. 

7. The king and his family shall reside within the pre- 
cincts of the legislative body until quiet may be re-estab- 
lished in Paris. 

8. The department shall give orders to cause to be pre- 
pared for them within the day a lodging at the Luxembourg, 
where they shall be put under the custody of the citizens and 
the law. 

9. Every public functionar}', every soldier, under-officer, 
officer, of whatever grade he may be, and general of an army, 
who, in these days of alarm shall abandon his post, is de- 
clared infamous and traitorous to the fatherland. 

10. The department and the municipality of Paris shall 
cause the present decree to be immediately and solemnly pro- 
claimed. 

IT. It shall be sent by extraordinary couriers to the eighty- 
three departments, which shall be required to cause it to 
reach the municipalities of their jurisdiction within twen- 
ty-four hoursv in order to be proclaimed with the sime sol- 
emnitv. 



Decree for the Convention 125 



25. Decree for Electing the Convention. 

August 11, 1792. Duyergier, Lois, IV, 297. 

This decree was the work of the Legislative Assembly, which 
continued in session until the Convention met on September 21. 
The kind of authority to which the assembly laid claim and the 
points in which the electoral arrangements of this decree differ 
from those of the constitution of 1791 should be noted. 

Referknce. Aulard, Revolution frangaise, 221-222. 

The National Assembly, considering that it has not the 
right to submit to imperative regulations the exercise of the 
sovereignty in the formation of a national convention, and 
that, nevertheless, it is important for the public safety that 
the primary and electoral assemblies should form: themselves 
at the same time, should act w^ith uniformity, and that the 
national convention should be promptly assembled, 

Invites the citizens, in the name of liberty, equality, and 
the fatherland, to conform themselves to the following regu- 
lations : 

1. The primary assemblies, shall select the same number 
of electors as they have selected in the last elections. 

2. The distinction of Frenchmen into active and non-ac- 
tive citizens shall be suppressed ; and in order to be admitted 
to them, it shall suffice to be French, twenty-one years of 
age, domiciled for a year, living from his income or the 
product of his labor, and not being in the status of a house- 
hold servant. As to those who, meeting the conditions of 
activity, were summoned by the law to take the civic oath, 
they shall be bound, in order to be admitted, to give proof 
of the taking of that oath. 

3. The conditions of eligibility demanded for the electors 
or for the representatives not being applicable to a national 
convention, it shall suffice, in order to be eligible as deputy 
or as elector, to be twenty-five years of age and to unite 
the conditions demanded by the preceding article. 

4. Each department shall select the number of deputies 
and alternates which it has selected for the existing legisla- 
ture. 

5. The elections shall take place according to the same 
method as for the legislative assemblies. 



126 Decree for the Convention 

6. The primary assemblies arc invited to invest their rep- 
resentatives with an unHmited confidence. 

7. The primary assemblies shall meet on Sunday, August 
26, in order to choose the electors. 

8. The electors chosen by the primary assemblies shall 
meet on Sunday, .September 2, in order to proceed to the 
election of the deputies to the national convention. 

9. The electoral assemblies shall sit in the places indi- 
cated by the table which shall be annexed to the present de- 
cree. 

10. On account of the necessity of hastening the elections. 
the presidents, secretaries, and tellers, both in the primary 
assemblies and in the electoral assemblies, shall be chosen by 
plurality and by a single ballot. 

11. The choice of the primary assemblies and the electoral 
assemblies may fall upon any citizen uniting the conditions 
above restored, whatever may be the public functions which 
he exercises or which he may have formerly exercised. 

12. The citizens in the primary assemblies, and the electors 
in the electoral assemblies, shall take the oath to maintain lib- 
erty and equality or to die in defending them. 

13. The deputies shall repair to Paris on September 20, 
and they shall cause themselves to be enrolled at the archives 
of the National Assembly. When they shall be two hundred 
in number, the National Assembly shall indicate the day of 
the opening of their sittings. 

14. The National Assembly, after having indicated to the 
French citizens the regulations to which it believes it ought 
to invite them to conform themselves, considering that cir- 
cumstances and justice alike urge a compensation in favor 
of the electors, decree that the electors who shall be obliged to 
go away from their domicile shall receive twenty sous per 
league, and three livres per day of sojourn. 

The principal administration of the place where the 
electoral assemblies shall meet is authorised to deliver the 
necessary orders for the payment of the compensation due to 
the electors, subject to causing the replacement of it in the cof- 
fers of the district, upon the production of the additional sous 
from the department. 

The above instruction and decree shall be, for more prompt 



Jacobin Club Address 127 

dispatch, addressed directly to both the district administrations 
and the department administrations ; there shall be sent to each 
district administration a sufficient number of copies in order 
that they may transmit it without delay to each municipality. 

26. The Jacobin Club Address. 

September 12, 1792. Aiilard, Jacobins, IV, 280-281. 

During the interval between the 10th of August and the meet- 
ing of the Convention of September 21, 1792, the Jacobin Club 
closely followed and accurately expressed the tendency of public 
opinion in France upon the question of permanent form of gov- 
ernment. This address, representing the final position of the club, 
had considerable influence in the way of preparing for the Re- 
public. 

Reference. Aulard, Revolution frangaise, 239-241. 

The mother society has been itself obliged to interrupt 
its correspondence since the TOth oi August; this is not be- 
cause it has thought that that famous day was the end of all 
the conspiracies and of all the intrigues ; a large portion of its 
members have received from the public confidence places in 
the provisional administrations, juries, etc. But the society, 
become a little more numerous, has expressed its desire to 
resume an active correspondence with its brothers of the de- 
partments, persuaded that circumstances demand more than 
ever fraternal communications between all the patriotic so- 
cieties. 

Since the loth of August conspirators have expiated their 
offences ; the public spirit has risen again ; the sovereig'n, re- 
covering possession of its rights, triumphs at length over the 
scoundrels leagued against its liberty and its welfare. Never- 
theless, thp people of Paris have felt the necessity of preserv- 
ing an imposing attitude and of exercising a strict surveillance 
over the minions and agents of the traitor, Louis the Last. 
Be apprehensive, brothers and friends, lest new intrigues shall 
follow the baffled intrigues. The head, the cause and the pre- 
text of the machinations still lives! Despotism moves in the 
darkness: let us be ready to engage in a combat to the death 
with it, under whatever form it presents itself. 

The great interests of the people are about to be considered 
in the national convention; let us not lose a moment in pre- 



128 Transition to Republic Documents 

paring and making beard the national opinion, which alone 
ought to direct its actions. Especially let us prevent by firm 
measures the danger of seeing these new legislators oppose 
with impunity their personal interests or their opinions to the 
sovereign will of the nation. Let there be henceforth no in- 
violability except the law; let all the public functionaries al- 
ways see the penalty alongside of the offence ; recollect how 
small is the number oi legislators who have resisted corrup- 
tion : only a very few of them are counted in each legislature. 

Let us impress our minds then with the spirit of the orders 
of the electoral body of Paris ; they alone can save us from 
all sorts of despotism and the dangers of convulsions too long 
a time prolonged, etc. 

These orders are in substance ; 

The purgatorial examination of the national convention, 
in order to reject from its midst the suspected members who 
may have escaped the sagacity of the primary assemblies ; 

The revocability of the deputies to the national convention 
who have attacked or who attack by any motions the rights 
of the sovereign ; 

The sanction, or the popula.r revision of all the constitu- 
tional decrees of the national convention ; 

The entire abolition of royaltj'^ and the penalty of death 
against those who may propose to re-establish it ; 

The form of a republican government. 

These, friends, and brothers, are the important matters 
which the electors, the commune, and the primary assemblies 
of Paris, invite us to discuss earnestly in order to fortify and 
encompass the national convention with your opinion upon 
these matters. 

27. Documents upon the Transition to the 
Republic. 

From these documents something can be learned of the manner 
in which the Republic came to be established. The precise effect 
of each measure should be noted. 

References. Aulard, R&volution francaise, 268-274 ; Jaures, 
Histoire socialiste. III, 171-179. 

A. Declaration upon the Constitution. September 2i, 1792. 
Duvergier, Lois, V, i. 



Convention and Foreign Policy 129 

The National Convention declares: ist, there cannot be 
any constitution except that which is accepted b.v the people: 
2d, that persons and property are under the safeguard of the 
nation. 

B. Decree for Provisional Enforcement of the Laws. 
September 21, 1792. Moniteur, September 22, 1792 (Reini- 
pression, XIV, 8.) 

The National Convention declares that all the laws not 
abrogated and all the pov/ers not revoked or suspended are 
maintained. 

The National Convention declares that the taxes at present 
actually existing shall be collected as in the past. 

C. Decree for Abolishing Monarchy. September 21, 1792. 
Duvergier, Lois, V, i. 

The National Convention decrees unanimously, that mon- 
archy is abolished in France. 

D. Decree upon the Dating of Public Documents. Sep- 
tember 22, 1792. Duvergier, Lois, V, 2. 

A member demanded that henceforth documents be dated, 
the first year of the French Republic. 

Another member proposed to join to that the era in use, 
ike fourth of liberty. 

This amendment is rejected, and it is decreed that all the 
public documents shall bear henceforth the date of the first 
year of the French Republic. 

E. Decree upon the Unity and Indivisibility of the Re- 
public. September 25, 1792. Duvergier, Lois, V, 4. 

The National Convention declares that the French Republic 
is one and indivisible. 

28. Documents upon the Convention and For- 
eign Policy. 

The adoption of the policy set foi-th in the first two of these 
decrees marks a great turning point in the history of the revolu- 



130 Convention and Foreign Policy 

tion. Document A, passed hastily amid tlie enthusiasm following 
the French victory at Jemmapes, may be regarded as representing 
the Girondist theory of foreign policy. In contrast, document B 
may be called the Montagnard theory. Document C represents 
the more practical and moderate policy of Danton. Special at- 
tention should be given to the effect of each of these decrees in 
foreign countries. 

References. Gardiner, French Revolution, 130-135 ; Stephens, 
French Revolution, II, 204-206 ; Lecky, England in the Eighteenth 
Century, VI, 58, 81-83 {French Revolution, 457-458, 487-489) ; 
Von SvDel, French Revolution, II, 235-237, 257-259, III, 41-43 ; 
Cambridge Modern History, VIII, 300 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, 
Ilistoire generate, VIII, 242-245, 282-285 ; Jaur&s, Histoire social- 
iste. III, 567-569, IV, 964-976. 

A. Declaration for Assistance and Fraternity to Foreign 
Peoples. November 19, 1792. Momteiir, November 19, 1792 
(Reimpression, XIV, 517). 

The National Convention declares, in the name of the 
French people, that it will accord fraternity and assistance to 
all peoples who shall wish to recover their liberty, and charges 
the executive power to give to the generals the necessary or- 
ders to furnish assistance to these peoples and to defend the 
citizens who may have been or who may be harassed for the 
cause of liberty. The present decree shall be translated and 
printed in all languages. 



B. Decree for Proclaiming the Liberty arbd Sovereignty 
of all Peoples. December 15, 1792. Duvergier, Lois, V, 82-84. 

The National Convention, after having heard the report of 
its united committees of imances, war, and diplomacy, faith- 
ful to the principles of the sovereignty of the people, which 
do not permit it to recognize any of the institutions that 
constitute an attack thereon, and wishing to settle the rules to 
be followed by the generals of the armies of the Republic in 
the countries where they shall carry its arms, decrees : 

I. In the countries which are or shall be occupied by the 
armies of the Republic, the generals shall proclaim immedi- 
ately, in the name of the Frencii nation, the sovereignty of 
the people, the suppression of all the established authorities 
and of the existing imposts and taxes, the abolition of the 
tithe, of feudalism, of seignioral rights, both feudal and cen- 
xuel, fixed or precarious, of banalites, of real and personal 



Convention and Foreign Policy 131 

servitude, of the privileges of hunting and fishing, of corvees, 
of the nobility, and generally of all privileges'. 

2. They shall announce to the people that they bring them 
peace, assistance, fraternity, liberty and equality, and that they 
will convoke them directly in primary or communal assemblies 
in order to create and organize an administration and a provis- 
ional judiciary; they shall look after the security of persons 
and property; they shall cause the present decree and the pro- 
clamation herewith annexed to be printed in the language or 
idiom of the country, and to be posted and executed without 
delay in each commune. 

3. All the agents and civil and military officers of the 
former government, as well as the persons formerly reputed 
noble, or the members of any formerly privileged corporation, 
shall be, for this time only, inadmissable to vote in the primary 
or communal assemblies, and they shall not be elected to ad- 
ministrative positions or to the provisional judicial power. 

4. The generals shall directly place under the safeguard 
and protection of the French Republic all the movable and 
immovable goods belonging to the public treasury, to the 

■prince, to his abettors, adherents and voluntary satellites, to 
the pnblic establishments, to the lay and ecclesiastical bodies 
and communities ; they shall cause to be prepared without 
delay a detailed list thereof which they shall dispatch to the 
executive council, and shall take all the measures which are in 
their power that these properties may be respected. 

5. The provisional administration selected by the people 
shall be charged with the surveillance and control of the goods 
placed under the safeguard and protection of the French Re- 
public ; it shalllook after the security of persons and property;- 
it shall cause to be executed the laws in force relative to the 
trial of civil and criminal suits and to the police and the pub- 
lic security; it shall be charged to regulate and to cause the 
payment of the local expenses and those which shall be neces- 
sary for the common defence; it may establish taxes, provid- 
ed, however, that they shall not be borne by the indigent and 
laboring portion of the people. 

6. When the provisional administration shall be organized 
the National Convention shall appoint commissioners from 
within its own body to go to fraternise with it. 



132 Convention and Foreign Policy 

7. The executive council shall also appoint national com- 
missioners, who shall repair directly to the places in order to 
co-operate with the generals and the provisional administra- 
tion selected by the people upon the measures to be taken 
for the common defence, and upon the means employed to 
procure the clothing and provisions necessary for the armies, 
and to meet the expenses which they have incurred and shall 
incur during their sojourn upon its territory. 

8. The national commissioners appointed by the executive 
council shall every fifteen days render an account to it of their 
operations. The .executive council shall approve, modify or 
reject them and shall render an account thereof directly to the 
Convention. 

9. The provisional administration selected by the people 
nnd the functions of the national commissioners shall cease as 
soon as the inhabitants, after having declared the sovereignty 
and independence of the people, liberty and equality, shall have 
organized a free and popular form of government. 

10. There shall be made a list of the expenses which the 
French Republic shall have incurred for the common defence 
and of the sums v/hich it may have received, and the French 
nation shall make arrangements with the government which 
shall have been established for that which may be due; and in 
case the common interest should require that the troops of the 
Republic remain beyond that time upon the foreign territor)', 
it shall take suitable measures to provide for their subsist- 
ence. 

11. The French nation declares that it will treat as ene- 
mies the people who, refusing liberty and equality, or renounc- 
ing them, may wish to preserve, recall, or treat with the prince 
and the privileged castes ; it promises and engages not to sub- 
scribe to any treaty, and not to lay down its arms until after 
the establishment of the sovereignty and independence of the 
people whose territory the troops of the Republic have entered 
upon and who shall have adopted the principles of equality, 
and established a free and popular government. 

12. The executive council shall dispatch the present decree 
by extraordinary couriers to all the generals and shall take 
the necessary measures to assure the execution of it. 



Convention and Foreign Policy. 133 

The French People to the . . . People. 

Brothers and friends, we have conquered liberty and we 
shall maintain it. We offer to cause you to enjoy this inesti- 
mable blessing, which has always belonged to us and which 
our oppressors have not been able to take away from us with- 
out crime. 

We have driven out your tyrants : show yourselves free 
men and we will guarantee you from their vengeance, their 
projects, and their return. 

From this moment the French nation proclaims the sover- 
eignty of the people, the suppression of all the civil and mili- 
tarj' authorities which have governed you up to this day and 
of all the imposts which you support under whatever form 
they exist; the abolition of the tithe, of feudalism, of seignior- 
al rights, both feudal and censuel, settled or precarious, of 
hanalites, of real and personal servitude, of the privileges of 
hunting and fishing, of the corvces, of the gahelle, of the tolls, 
of the octrois, and generally of every species of taxes with 
which you have been charged by your usurpers ; it also pro- 
claims the abolition among you of every noble corporation, 
sacerdotal and others, of all prerogatives and privileges con- 
trary to equality. You are from this moment, brothers and 
friends, all citizens, all equal in rights, and all equally called 
to govern, to serve, and to defend you^- fatherland. 

Form yourselves immediately into primary and communal 
assemblies, make haste to establish your provisional admin- 
istrations and judiciaries, in conformity with the provisions 
of article 3 of the above decree. I'he agents of the French 
Republic will co-operate with you in order to assure your wel- 
fare and the fraternity which ought to exist henceforth be- 
tween us. 

C. Decree upon Non-intervention. April 13, 1793. Du- 
vergier, J^ois, V, 248. 

The National Convention declares, in the name of the 
French people, that it will not interfere in any manner in the 
government of the other powers ; but it declares at the same 
time, that it will sooner be buried under its own ruins than suf- 
fer that any power should interfere in the internal regime of 



134 Convention and Religion 

the Republic, or should influence the creation of the constitu- 
tion which it intends to give itself. 

The National Convention decrees the penalty of death 
against anyone who may propose to negotiate or treat with the 
hostile powers which may not have previously recognized 
in a solemn manner the independence of the French Republic, 
its sovereignty, and the indivisibility and unity oJ: the Republic, 
founded upon liberty and equality. 



'^29. Documents upon the Convention and 
Religion. 

Document A shows the original attitude of the Convention 
towards religion, which was substantially that of the Constituent 
Assembly. (See No. 6.) Under various influences that attitude 
was gradually changed. The royalist sympathies ot the non-juring 
priests led to document B, the Girondist sympathies of the con- 
stitutional clergy to document C. At the end of the year 1793 the 
anti-Chrisitianlty movement was very strong outside of the Con- 
vention. Document D represents the attitude of the Convention 
towards that movement and also marks the first step towards the 
establishment of a new system upon the relations between the state 
and religion. The remaining documents represent other steps in 
the process and its final position. The system outlined in docu- 
ment I continued as the legal basis until the Concordat. 

llEFEitEN'CKS. Sloane, FrenrJi Revolution and Religious Reform, 
211-217 ; Cambridge Modern History, VIII, 382-383 ; Aulard, Revo- 
lution frangaise, 466-487, ."5R2-.542 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire 
generate, VIII, 514-525 ; Debidour, L'Sglise et vmat, 112-152. 

A. Decree upon Religious Policy. January ii, 1793. Du- 
vergier, Lois, V, iii. 

The National Convention, after having heard a deputation 
of the citizens of the departments of Eure, Orne and Eure-et- 
Loir, who ask in the name of more than a hundred thousand 
of their fellow citizens that they be .not disturbed in the ex- 
ercise of their worship, and who protest that they wish to live 
and die good catholics as well as good republicans, and upon 
the proposal of one of its members, passes to the order of 
the (fay, giving as the reason the existence of its decree of the 
30th of November, in which it orders that a notification to the 
people shall be made in order to explain to them that the Na- 
tional Convention never had an intention of depriving them of 
the ministers of the catholic sect whom the Civil Constitution 
of the Clergy has given them. 



Convention and Religion 135 

It decrees, besides, that a copy of this decree and of that 
of the 30th of November shall be sent to the petitioners. 

B. Decree upon the Non-juring Priests. April 23, 1793. 
Duvergier, Lois, V, 256. 

1. The National Convention decrees that all the secular 
and regular ecclesiastics and converts and lay brothers, who 
have not taken oath to maintain liberty and equality in 
conformity with the law of August 15, 1792, shall be embarked 
and transferred without delay to French Guiana. 

2. Those who shall be denounced because of incivism by 
six citizens in the canton shall be subject to the same penalty. 

5. Those deported in execution of articles i and 2 above 
who may return to the territory of the Republic shall be pun- 
ished by death within twenty-four hours. 



C. Decree upon Dangerous Priests. October 20-21, 1793. 
(29-30 Vendemiaire, Year II). Duvergier, Lois, VI, 241-242. 

1. Priests subject to deportation and taken with arms in 
their hands, either upon the frontiers or in the country of the 
enemy ; 

Those who shall have been or shall be discovered in pos- 
session of permits or passports delivered by French emigre 
leaders, or by commanders of enemies' armies, or by leaders 
of the rebels ; 

And those who shall be provided with any counter-revolu- 
tionary symbols, shall be delivered within twenty-four hours 
to the executioner of condemned criminals and put to death, 
after the facts shall have been declared proven by a military 
commission formed by the officers of the staff of the division 
within the area of which they shall have been arrested. 

2. Those who have been or who shall be arrested without 
arms in the countries occupied by the troops of the Republic 
shall be tried in the same form and punished by the same 
penalty, if they have been previously in the armies of the en- 
emy or in the musters of emigres or insurgents, or if they 
were there at the moment of their arrest. 

S. Those of these ecclesiastics who shall return and those 



136 Convention and Religion 

who have returned to the territory of the Repubhc shall be 
sent to the court house of the criminal tribunal of the depart- 
ment within the area of which they shall have been or shall be 
arrested ; and, after having undergone examination, of which 
record shall be kept, they shall be delivered within twenty- 
four hours to the executioner of condemned criminals and put 
to death, after the judges of the tribunal shall have declared 
that the prisoners are convicted of having been subjects of 
deportation. 

10. Those declared subjects for deportation, trial and pun- 
ishment, as such, are the bishops, former archbishops, cures 
kept in place, vicars of these bishops, superiors and di- 
rectors of seminaries, vicars of the cures, professors of semi- 
naries and colleges, public instructors, and those who shall 
have preached in any churches whatsoever since the decree of 
February 5, 1791, who shall not have taken the oath prescribed 

by article 39 of the decree of July 24, 1790 or who have 

retracted it, although they may have taken it again since their 
retraction ; 

All secular or regular ecclesiastics and convert and lay 
brothers, who have not complied with the decrees of August 
14, 1792, and April 21st, last, or who have retracted their oath ; 

And finally all those who have been denounced because of 
incivism, when the denunciation shall have been pronounced 
valid, in conformity with the decree of the said 21st day of 
April. 

12. The ecclesiastics who have taken the oath prescribed 
by the decrees of July 24 and November 27, 1790, as well as 
that of liberty and equality, within the fixed time, and who 
, shall be denounced because of incivism, shall be embarked 
without delay and transferred to the east coast of Africa from 
the twenty-third to the twenty-eighth degree south. 

\y. Priests deported voluntarily and with passports . . 
are reputed emigres. 

18. Every citizen is required to denounce the ecclesiastic 
whom he shall know to be subject to deportation, to 
arrest him or cause him to be arrested and conducted before 



Convention and Religion 137 

the nearest police officer; he shall receive a hundred livres 
reward. 

19. Every citizen who shall conceal a priest subject to de- 
portation shall be condemned to the same penalty. 

D. Decree upon Religious Freedom. December 8, 1793. 
(18 Frimaire, Year II). Duvergier, Lois, VI, ^33. 

1. All violence and measures in constraint of the liberty 
of worship are forbidden. 

2. The surveillance of the constituted authorities and the 
action of the public force shall confine themselves in this 
matter, each for what concerns it, to measures of police and 
public security. 

3. The National Convention, by preceding provisions, 
does not mean to derogate in any manner from the laws or 
precautions of public safety against the refractory or turbu- 
lent priests, or against all those who may attempt to take ad- 
vantage of the pretext of religion to compromise the cause of 
liberty ; no more does it intend to disapprove of what has been 
done up to this day in virtue of the orders of the representa- 
tives of the people, nor to furnish or for diminishing the free 
text for disturbing patriotism or for diminishing the free 
scope of the public spirit. The Convention invites all good 
citizens, in the name of the fatherland, to abstain from all 
disputes that are theological or foreign to the great interests 
of the French people, in order to co-operate by all methods 
in the triumph of the Republic and the ruin of all its ene- 
mies. 



E. Decree for Establishing the Worship of the Supreme 
Being. May 7, 1794 (18 Floreal, Year II). Aulard, Revolu- 
tion frangaise, 489-490. 

1. The P'rench people recognize the existence of the Su- 
preme Being and the immortality of the soul. 

2. They recognize that the worship worthy of the Supremi 
Being is the practice of the duties of man. 

3. They place in the first rank of these duties, to detest 
bad faith and tyranny, to punish tyrants and traitors, to relieve 
the unfortunate, to respect the weak, to defend the oppressed. 



138 Convention and Religion 

to do to others all the good that is possible and not to be un- 
just to anyone. 

4. Festivals shall be instituted to remind man of the 
thought of the divinity and of the dignity of his being. 

5. They shall take their names from the glorious events of 
our revolution, from the virtues most cherished and most use- 
ful to man, and from the great gifts of nature. 

6. The French Republic shall celebrate every year the fes- 
tival of July 14, 1789, August 10, 1792, January 21, 1793, and 
May 31, 1793. 

7. It shall celebrate on the days of decadi the list of festi- 
vals that follows: to the supreme being and to nature; to the 
human race : to the French people ; to the benefactors of 
humanity; to the martyrs of liberty; to liberty and equality; 
to the republic: to the liberty of the world; to the love of 
the fatherland : to the hatred of tyrants and of traitors ; to 
truth; to justice; to modesty; to glory and immortality; to 
friendship; to frugality; to courage; to good faith; to her- 
oism ; to disinterestedness ; 'to stoicism ; to love ; to con- 
jugal love; to paternal love; to maternal tenderness; to 
filial affection ; to childhood ; to youth ; to manhood ; to old 
age ; to misfortune ; to agriculture ; to industry ; to our fore- 
fathers ; to posterity ; to happiness. 

8. The committees of public safety and of public instruc- 
tion are charged to present a plan of organization for these 
festivals. 

9. The National Convention summons all the talents wor- 
thy to serve the cause of humanity to the honor of contribut- 
ing to its establishment by hymns and patriotic songs and 
by all the means which can enhance its beauty and utility. 

10. The Committee of Public Safety shall confer distinction 
upon those works which seem the best adapted to carry on 
these purposes and shall reward their authors. 

11. Liberty of worship is maintained, in conformity with 
the decree of 18 Frimaire. 

12. Every gathering that is aristocratic and contrary to 
public order shall be suppressed. 

13. In case of disturbances of which any worship what- 
soever may be the occasion or motive, those who may excite 
them by fanatical preaching or by counter-revolutionary in- 



Convention and Religion 139 

sinuations, those who may provoke them by unjust and gratu- 
itous violence, shall likew^ise be punished with all the severity 
of the law. 

14. A special report upon the provisions of detail relative 
to the present decree shall be made. 

15. A festival in honor of the Supreme Being shall be 
celebrated upon 20 Prairial next. 

David is charged to present the plan thereof to the National 
Convention. 

F. Decree upon Expenditures for Religion. September 
18, 1794 (2 Sans-Culottides, Year II). Duvergier, Lois, VII, 
281. 

I. The French Republic no longer pays the expenses or 
salaries of anv sect. 



G. Decree upon Religion. February 21, 1795 (3 Ventose, 
Year III). Duvergier, Lois, VIII, 25-26. 

1. In conformity with article 7 of the Declaration of the 
Rights of Man and with article 122 of the constitution, the 
exercise of any worship cannot be disturbed. 

2. The Republic does not pay salaries for any of them. 

3. It- does not furnish an edifice, either for the exercise 
of worship or the lodging of the ministers. 

4. The ceremonies of every worship are forbidden outside 
of the premises chosen for their exercise. 

5. The law does not recognize any minister of religion : 
nobody can appear in public with garments, ornaments or cos- 
tumes set apart for religious ceremonies. 

6. Every gathering of citizens for the exercise of any 
worship is subject to the surveillance of the constituted au- 
thorities. That surveillance confines itself to measures of 
police and public security. 

7. No symbol peculiar to a religion can be put in or upon 
the outside of a public place, in any manner whatsoever. No 
inscription can designate the place which is set aside for it. 
No proclamation or public summons can be made in order to 
call the citizens there. 

8. The communes and communal sections in collective 



140 Convention and Religion 

name shall not acquire nor loan buildings for the exercises of 
religious organizations. 

9. No perpetual or life time endowment can be formed 
or any tax established in order to provide for the expenses of 
them. 



H. Decree for Restoring Church Buildings. May 30, 
1795 (11 Prairial, Year III). Duvergier, Lois, VIII, 127. 

I. The citizens of the communes and communal sections 
of the Republic shall have the free use provisionally of the 
non-alienated edifices originally set apart for the .exercises of 
one or more worships and of which they were in possession 
on the first day of the year 11 of the Republic. They can 
make use of them under the surveillance of the constituted 
authorities, both for the assemblies ordered by the law and foi 
the exercise of their worship. 

5. Nobody shall perform the duties of the ministry of any 
religious organization in the said edifices, unless he has made 
acknowledgment, before the municipality of the place in 
which he shall wish to exercise it, of submission to the laws 
of the Republic. Ministers of religion who shall have contra- 
vened the present article, and citizens who shall have sum- 
moned or admitted them, shall each be punished with a thou- 
sand livres fine by way of correctional police. 

I. Organic Act upon Religion. September 29, 1795 (7 
Vendemiaire, Year IV). Duvergier, Lois, VIII, 293-296. 

The National Convention, after having heard the report of 
its committee of legislation; 

Considering that by the terms of the constitution, nobody 
can be prevented from exercising, in conformity with the laws, 
the worship which he has chosen ; that nobody can be forced 
to contribute to the expenses of any religious organization, 
and that the Republic does not pay salaries for any of them; 

Considering that, these fundamental bases of the free ex- 
ercise of worship being thus laid down, it is important, on 
the one hand, to reduce into laws the necessary consequences 



Convention and Religion 141 

which are derived therefrom, and, for that purpose, to unite 
them into a single body and to modify or complete those 
which have been rendered ; and, on the other hand, to add to 
them the penal provisions whicii may assure the execution of 
them ; 

Considering that the laws to which it is necessary to con- 
form in the exercise of worship do not legislate upon what 
belongs to the domain of thought only, or upon the relations 
of man with the objects of his worship, and that they have and 
can have for their purpose only a surveillance restricted to 
measures of police and public security; 

That thus they ought to guarantee the free exercise of wor- 
ship by the punishment of those who disturb the ceremonies 
or outrage the ministers in their functions ; 

To demand of the ministers of every religious organiza- 
tion a purely civic guarantee against the abuse which they 
may make of their ministrj' in order to excite disobedience 
to the laws of the state; 

To anticipate, 'prevent, or punish everything which may 
tend to render a religious organization exclusive or domi- 
nant and persecuting, such as acts of the communes in the 
collective name, endowments, forced contributions, acts of 
violence relative to the expenses of religious organizations, 
the exposure of special symbols in certain places, the exer- 
cise of ceremonies and the use of costumes outside of the 
premises designated for the said exercises, and the under- 
takings of the ministers relative to the civil condition of the 
citizens ; 

To repress offences which may be committed by occasion 
or abuse of the exercise of worship ; 

And, finally, to regulate the competency and procedure [of 
the courts] in these classes of cases ; 

Decrees as follows : 

Title I. Surveillance of the Exercise of Worship 

Preliminary and General Provision. 

I. Every gathering of citizens for the exercise of any wor- 
ship whatsoever is subject to the surveillance of the con- 
stituted authorities. 

This surveillance is confined to measures of police and pub- 
lic security. 



142 Convention and Religion 

Title II. Guarantee of the Free Exercise of Every 
Worship 

2. Those who shall insult the objects of any worship what- 
soever in the places designated for its exercise, or its minis- 
ters on duty, or shall interrupt by a public disturbance the 
religious ceremonies of any other worship whatsoever, shall 
be condemned to a fine, which shall not exceed five hundred 
livres, nor less than fifty livres per person, and an impris- 
onment which shall not exceed two years nor be less than 
one month; without prejudice to the penalties provided by the 
penal code, if the nature of the act may give occasion thereto. 

Title III. Of the Civic Guarantee Required of the 
Ministers of Every Sect 

5. Nobody can discharge the duties of the ministry of any 
religious organization, in any place whatever, unless he has 
previously made before the niunicipal adrtiinistration or the 
municipal deputy of the place in which he shall wish to ex- 
ercise it, a declaration, the model of which is in the following 
article. The declarations already made shall not dispense 
with that ordered by the present article. . . . 

6. The formula of the declaration required above is this : 
"The .... before us . . . has appeared N. (the 

name and prenomens only) resident of . . . who has 
made the declaration whose tenor is as follows : 

" 7 recognize that the totality of the French citizens is the 
sovereign, and I promise submission and obedience to the law 
of the Republic' 

"We have given to him an acknowledgment of this declar- 
ation and he has signed with us." 

The declaration which shall contain anything more or less 
shall be null and void : . . . 

Title IV. Of the Guarantee against Any Religious 

Organization Which May Attempt to Become 

Exclusive or Dominant 

Sfxtion 1. Concerning the expenses of the religious or- 
ganizations. 



Convention jind Religion 143 

9. Communes or communal sections shall neither acquire 
nor loan in the collective name premises for the exercise of 
worship. 

10. No perpetual or lifetime endowment can be formed 
nor any tax established in order to provide for the expenses 
of any religious organization or the lodgment of its minis- 
ters. 

Section II. Of the places in which it is forbidden to place 
the special symbols of a religious organization. 

13. No special symbol of a religious organization can be 
raised, affixed or attached in any place whatsoever in such 
a manner as to be exposed to the eyes of the citizens, except 
within the premises designated for the exercises of that same 
religious organization, or within the interior of private houses, 
within the studios or magazines of artists and merchants, or 
the public edifices set apart to receive works of art. 

Section III. Of the places in which the ceremonies of re- 
ligious organizations are forbidden. 

16. The ceremonies of all religious organizations are for- 
bidden outside of the precincts of the edifice chosen for their 
exercise. 

This prohibition does not apply to the ceremonies which 
take place within the precincts of private houses, provided, 
that, besides the persons who have that domicile, there shall 
not be on the occasion of the said ceremonies a gathering in 
excess of ten persons. 

T7. The premises chosen for the exercise of a worship 
shall be indicated and declared to the municipal deputy, in the 
communes above five thousand souls, and in others to the 
municipal administrations of the canton or district. 

19. Nobody . . . can appear in public with the gar- 
ments, ornaments or costumes set apart for religious ceremo- 
nies or for a minister of a religious organization. 



144 Convention and Religion 

Title V. Of Certain Offences Which Can Be Committed 

on the Occasion or by the Abuse of the 

Exercise of Worship 

22. Every minister of a religious organization who, outside 
of the premises of the edifice set apart for the ceremonies or 
exercises of a worship, shall read or cause to be read in an 
assembly of persons, or who shall post or cause to be posted, 
shall distribute or cause to be distributed, a writing emanat- 
ing from or announced as emanating from a minister of wor- 
ship who shall not be resident within the French Republic, 
or even from a minister of worship residing in France who 
declares himself the delegate of another who does not reside 
here, shall be condemned to six months in prison, indepen- 
dently of the tenor of the said writing, and in case of repe- 
tition, to two years. 

23. Any minister of worship who shall commit any one 
of the following offences shall be condemned to prison for- 
ever, whether it be by his discourses, exhortations, sermons, 
invocations or prayers, in any language whatsoever, either 
by reading, publishing, posting, distributing, or causing to be 
read, published, posted and distributed, within the premises 
of the edifice set part for the ceremonies, or outside, a writ- 
ing of which he shall be or any other shall be the author; 

To wit : if, by the said writing or discourse, he has urged 
the re-establishment of monarchy in France, or the overthrow 
of the Republic, or the dissolution of the national representa- 
tion ; 

Or if he has incited murder, or excited the defenders of 
the fatherland to desert their flags; or their fathers and moth- 
ers to recall them ; 

Or if he has reproached those who may wish to take arms 
for the maintenance of the republican constitution and the de- 
fence of liberty : 

Or if he has summoned persons to cut down the trees con- 
secrated to liberty, or has torn down or treated disrespectfully 
its symbols and colors ; 

Or, finally, if he has exhorted or encouraged any persons to 
treason or rebellion against the government. 

24. If, by writings, placards or discourses, a minister of 



Documents upon the Emigres 145 

worship seeks to mislead the citizens, in presenting to them 
as unjust or criminal the sales or acquisitions of national lands 
possessed formerly hy the clergy or the emigres, he shall be 
condemned to a thousand livres fine and two years in prison ; 

In addition, he shall be forbidden to continue his functions 
as a minister of worship ; 

If he infringes this prohibition, he shall be punished by ten 
years of imprisonment. 



30. Documents upon the Emigres. 

The emiyrvs were an important factor in the revolution. Their 
absence from France deprived Louis XVI of support which he 
needed ; their intrigues abroad and their threats of vengeance did 
much to arouse the fears of all Frenchmen who sympathized with 
the revolution. Document A, although much less virulent in tone 
than others, is a typical emifirc manifesto. Document B may be 
called an organic act, codifying earlier legislation against the 
emUjres. 

Refebnces. Stephens, French Revolution, II. 496-513 ; Cam- 
hridge Modern History, VIII, 501-503 ; Aulard, Revolution fran- 
caise, 361-362. 

A. Declaration of the Regent of France. January 28, 1793. 
Moniteiir, February 26, 1793 (Reimpression, XV, 545-546). 

Louis-Stanislas-Xavier of France, son of France, uncle of 
the king, regent of the kingdom, to all those to whom these 
presents shall come, greeting. 

Filled with horror upon learning that the most criminal 
of men have just i^eached the climax of their numerous out- 
rages by the greatest of crimes, we have first implored heaven 
to obtain its assistance in surmounting the feelings of a pro- 
found grief and the impulses of our indignation, to the end 
that wc may give ourselves up to the fulfilling of the duties 
which, under such grave circumstances, are the first in order 
of those which the immutable laws of the French monarchy 
impose upon us, 

Our very dear and honored brother and sovereign lord. 
King Louis, the sixteenth of that name, having died on the 
21 St of the present month of January, beneath the parricidal 
sword which the ferocious usurpers of the sovereign author- 
ity in France raised against his august person. 



146 Documents upon the Emigres 

We declare that the dauphin Louis-Charles, born on the 
27th day of March, 1785, is King of France and Navarre, un- 
der the name of Louis XVIl, and that by right of birth, as 
well as by the provisions of the fundamental laws of the king- 
dom, we are and shall be regent of France during the minor- 
ity of the king, our nephew and lord. 

Invested, in that capacity, with the exercise of the rights 
and powers of the sovereignty and of the higher ministry of 
royal justice, we undertake them, as we are required to do 
in the discharge of our obligations and duties, for the pur- 
pose of employing ourselves, with the aid of God and the 
assistance of good and loyal Frenchmen of all the orders of 
the kingdom and of the powers recognized as sovereign allies 
of the crown of France. 

1st. For the liberation of King Louis XVU, our nephew; 
2d, of the queen, his august mother and guardian ; of the 
Princess Elizabeth, his aunt, our very dear sister, all kept in 
the most distressing captivity by the leaders of the factious; 
and at the same time for the re-establishment of the monarchy 
upon the unalterable bases of its constitution, the reformation 
of the abuses introduced in the system of public administra- 
tion, the re^establishment of the religion of our fathers in the 
purity of its worship and of the canonical discipline, the re- 
storation of the magistracy for the maintenance of public 
order and the dispensmg of justice, the restoration of French- 
men of all orders, in the. exercise of legitimate rights and in 
the enjoyment of their invaded and usurped properties, the 
severe and exemplary punishment of crimes, the re-establish- 
ment of the authority of the laws and of peace, and, finally, 
the fulfilling of the solemn engagements which we were 
pleased to take in conjunction with our very dear brother, 
Charles-Philippe of France, Count of Artois, with whom are 
united our very dear nephews, grandsons of France, Louis- 
Antoine, Duke of Angouleme, and Charles-Ferdinand, Duke 
of Berry, and our cousins of the royal blood, Louis-Joseph of 
Bourbon, Prince of Conde, Louis-Henry- Joseph of Bourbon, 
Duke of Bourbon, and Louis-Antoine-Henri of Bourbon, 
Duke of Enghein, by our resolutions addressed to the late 
king, our brother, September 11, 1791, and other acts emanat- 



Documents upon the Emigres 147 

ing from us, declarations of our principles, feelings and wishes, 
in which acts we persist and shall constantly persist. 

For these purposes^, we command and order all Frenchmen 
and subjects of the king to obey the commands which they 
shall receive from us in the name of the king and the com- 
mands of our very dear brother Charles-Philippe of France, 
Count of Artois, whom we have appointed and designated 
lieutenant general of the kingdom, when our said brother and 
lieutenant general shall give orders in the name of the king 
and the regent of France. Our present declaration shall be 
notified to whomsoever it shall concern and shall be published 
by all the officers of the king, military or magisterial, to whom 
we shall give commission and charge thereto, in order that the 
said declaration may have all the publicity which it shall be 
possible to give it in France at present, and until it may be 
addressed in the usual form to the courts of the kingdom, 
as soon as they shall have resumed the exercise of their juris- 
dictions, in order to be there notified, published, registered and 
executed. 

Given at Hamm, in Westphalia, under our signature and 
ordinary seal, of which we are making use for transactions of 
sovereignty until the seals of the kingdom, destroyed by the 
factious, may have been re-established, and under the counter 
signature of the ministers of state, the marshals Broglie and 
Castries. This 28th of January, 1793, and of the reign of the 
king, the first. 

B. Decree against the Emigres. March 28, 1793. Du- 
vergier, Lois, V, 218-228. 

I. The emigres are forever banished from French ter- 
ritory ; they are civilly dead; their estates are acquired by the 
RepubHc. 

2. Infraction of the banishment pronounced by article i 
shall be punished by death. 

6. jSmigres are : 

I St. Every Frenchman of either sex who, after having 
left the territory of the Republic since July i, 1789, has not 
made proof of his return to France within the periods fixed by 



148 Declaration of War against England 

the decree of March 30-April 8, 1792. The said decree shall 
continue to be executed in that which has to do with the pe- 
cuniary penalties pronounced against those who shall have re- 
turned within the period which it has prescribed ; 

2d. Every Frenchman of either sex, absent from the place 
of his domicile, who shall not prove, in the form which is 
about to be prescribed, an uninterrupted residence in France 
since May Q, 1792; 

3d. Every Frenchman of either sex who, although actually 
present, has been absent from the place of his domicile and 
shall not make proof of an uninterrupted residence in France 
since May 9, 1792; 

4th. Those who shall leave the territory of the Republic 
without fulfilling the formalities prescribed by the decree ; 

5th. ■ Every agent of the government who, having been 
charged with a mission to foreign powers, may not return to 
France within three months from the day of notification of his 
recall ; 

6th. Every Frenchman of either sex who, during invasion 
made by foreign armies, has left non-invaded French territory 
in order to reside upon territory occupied by the enemy; 

7th. Those who, although born in foreign countries, have 
exercised the rights of citizens in France, or who, having a 
double domicile, to vyit, one in France and the other in for- 
eign countries, shall not make proof of an uninterrupted resi- 
dence in France since May 9, 1792. 



31. Declaration of War against Great Britain. 



February 1, 1793. Duvergier, Lois, \, 134-135. 

The great war begun by this declaration lasted until 1814, 
save for one interval of about fifteen months in 1802-3. being pro- 
tracted for reasons very different from those which had originally 
caused it. From the document a tolerably complete list of the 
circumstances which the Convention regarded as justifying the 
war can be made out. 

References. Le<'ky, FJnpland in the Eighteenth Century, VI, 
45-13i!) (French Revolution. 441-556) : Browning, Flight to Va- 
rennrs and Oilier Essai/s. 170-201 ; Camhridfje Modern Histor;/. VIII, 
295-305 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire g^nerale, VIII, 248-249 ; 
Sorel, L'Europe et la revolution frangaise. III, 212-230, 240-245, 
271-280. 



Declaration of War against England 149 

The National Convention, after having heard the report of 
its committee of general defence upon the conduct of the Eng- 
lish government towards France ; 

Considering that the King of England has not ceased, es- 
pecially since the revolution of August 10, 1792, to give to 
the French nation proofs of his malevolence and of his at- 
tachment to the coalition of the crowned heads; 

That at that time he ordered his ambassador to withdraw 
from Paris, because he did not wish to recognize the pro- 
visional executive council created by the Legislative Assem- 
bly; 

That the cabinet of Saint James discontinued at the same 
time its correspondence with the ambassador of France at 
London, under pretext of the suspension of the former king 
of the French ; 

That, since the opening of the National Convention, it has 
not been willing to resume its accustomed correspondence nor 
to recognize the powers of this Convention ; 

That it has refused to recognize the ambassador of the 
French Republic, although furnished with letters of credence 
in its name ; 

That it has sought to thwart the various purchases of 
grain, arms, and other merchandise ordered in England, 
whether by French citizens or by the agents of the French 
Republic ; 

That it has caused the arrest of several barges and vessels 
loaded with grain for France, while, contrary to the tenor of 
the treaty of 1786, the exportation thereof to other foreign 
countries has continued ; 

That, in order to hamper still more effectively the com- 
mercial operations of the Republic in England, it has caused 
the circulation of the assignats to be prohibited by an act of 
parliament ; 

That, in violation of article 4 of the treaty of 1786, it has 
caused to be enacted by the same parliament, in the course of 
the month of January last, an act which subjects all French 
citizens going to or residing in England to forms that are 
most inquisitorial, most vexatious, and most dangerous to 
their security ; 

That, within the same time and against the tenor of article 



150 Declaration of War against England 

I of the treaty of peace of 1783, it has granted open protection 
and financial relief to the emigres and even to the rebel lead- 
ers who have already fought against France; that it main- 
tains with them a daily correspondence evidently directed 
against the French revolution ; 

That it likewise welcomes the leaders of the rebels of the 
French western colonies; 

That, in the same spirit, without any provocation being 
given it, and when all the maritime powers are at peace with 
England, the cabinet of Saint James has ordered a consider- 
able armament by sea and an augmentation of its land forces; 

That this augmentation was ordered at the moment when 
the English ministry was persecuting with blind fury those 
who were supporting in England the principles of the French 
revolution, and was employing all possible means, whether in 
parliament or outside, to cover the French Republic with 
ignoiminy and to draw upon it the execration of the English 
nation and of all Europe; 

That the purpose of this armament, intended against 
France, has not even been disguised in the parliament of Eng- 
land ; 

That, although the provisional executive council has em- 
ployed all means to preserve peace and fraternity with the 
English nation and has not responded to the calumnies and 
the violations of the treaties, except by complaints founded 
upon the principles of justice and expressed with the dignity 
of free men, the English ministry has persevered in its sys- 
tem of malevolence and hostility, continued the armaments, 
and sent a fleet towards the Scheldt to interfere with the 
operations of France in Belgium ; 

That at the news of the execution of Louis it carried out- 
rage against the French Republic to the point of giving an 
order to the ambassador of France to leave the soil of Great 
Britain within eight days ; 

That the King of England has manifested his attachment 
to the cause of that traitor and his intention to sustain it by 
various resolutions taken at the morhent of his death, as well 
in appointing generals for his army, as in askng the parlia- 
ment of England for a considerable addition of land and naval 
forces and in ordering the equipment of gunboats ; 



Declaration of War against England. 151 

That his secret coaHtion with the enemies of France, and 
especially with the Emperor and with Prussia, has just been 
confirmed by a treaty effected with the first in the month of 
January last; 

That he has drawn into the same coalition the Stadtholder 
of the United Provinces ; that this prince, whose servile devo- 
tion to the orders of the cabinets of Saint James and of Berlin 
is only too notorious, has in the course of the French revolu- 
tion and despite the neutrality which he was protesting, treat- 
ed with contempt the agents of France, welcomed the emigres, 
harassed the French patriots, interfered wi'ch their operations, 
released, despite the accepted usage and despite the request of 
the French minister, the counterfeiters of false assignats; 

That, most recently in order to co-operate with the hostile 
designs of the court of London, he has ordered a naval arma- 
ment, appointed an admiral, ordered the Dutch vessels to join 
the English fleet, opened a loan to supply the expenses of war, 
prevented exportations to France while he favored the sup- 
plying of the Prussian and Austrian magazines with pro- 
visions ; 

Considering, finally, that all these circumstances no longer 
allow the French Republic to hope to obtain, by means of 
amicable negotiations, the redress of its grievances, and that 
all the acts of the British court and of the Stadtholder are 
acts of hostility and equivalent to a declaration of war; 

The National Convention decrees as follows : 

1. The National Convention declares, in the name of the 
French nation, that in view of all these acts of hostilitv and 
aggression, the French Republic is at war with the King of 
England and the Stadtholder of the United Provinces. 

2. The National Convention charges the provisional ex- 
ecutive council to deploy the forces which shall appear to it 
necessary to repulse their aggression and to support the in- 
dependence, the dignity and the interests of the Republic. 

3. The National Convention authorizes the provisional 
executive council to dispose of the naval forces of the Re- 
public, as the safety of the state shall appear to it to require; 
it revokes all the particular provisions ordered in this matter 
by preceding decrees. 



152 The Revolutionary Tribunal 

32. Documents upon the Revolutionary Tri- 
bunal of Paris. 

These documents are intended to show the evolution and gen- 
eral character of the Revolutionary Tribunal, one of the chief in- 
stitutions of the Terror. Between the dates of the two documents 
the tribunal was divided into four sections, in order that its busi- 
ness might be despatched more rapidly, and its name was changed 
to Revolutionary Tribunal. Something of the methods by which 
it was supplied with cases can be ascertained from No. 41. 

References. Mathews, French Revolution, 231-232, 262 ; 
Stephens, French Revolution, II, 330-343, 544-548 ; Cambridge 
Modern History, VIII, 267-268, 366, 372 ; Aulard, Revolution fran- 
caise, 362-366; Jaures, Histoire socialiste, IV, 1115-1121, 1808- 
1814. 

A.. Decree for Creating an Extraordinary Criminal Tri- 
bunal, March lo, 1793. Duvergier, Lois, V, 190-191. 

Title I. Of the Composition and Organization of an Ex- 
traordinary Criminal Tribunal. 

1. There shall be established at Paris an extraordinary 
criminal tribunal, which shall have jurisdiction over every 
counter-revolutionary enterprise, over all attacks against lib- 
erty, equality, unity, and the indivisibility of the Republic, the 
internal and external security O'f the state, and over all con- 
spiracies tending to re-establish monarchy or to establish any 
other authority which makes an attack upon the liberty, equal- 
ity, and sovereignty of the people, whether the accused be 
civil or military functionaries or simply citizens. 

2. The tribunal shall be composed of a jury, and of five 
judges, who shall direct the examination and shall apply the 
law after the declaration of the jurors upon the facts. 

3. The judges shall not render any decision unless they 
are at least three in number. 

5. The judges shall be appointed by the National Conven- 
tion by plurality of the votes, which, nevertheless, shall not 
be less than a fourth of the votes. 

6. There shall be before the tribunal a public accuser and 
two assistants or alternates, who shall be appointed by the 
National Convention, as are the judges and according to the 
same method. 



The Revolutionary Tribunal 153 

7. There shall be appointed by the National Convention 
in the sitting of tomorrow twelve citizens, of the departm,ent 
of Paris and of the four departments which environ it, who 
shall discharge the duties of jurors, and four alternates of 
the same department, who shall replace the jurors in case of 
absence, challenge or illness. The jurors shall discharge their 
duties until May ist next; and there shall be provision made 
by the National Convention for their replacement and for the 
formation of a jury taken from among the citizens of all the 
departments. 

8. The functions of the police of the general security, as- 
signed to the municipalities and the administrative bodies by 
the decree of August nth la.st, shall be extended to all the 
crimes and offences mentioned in article i of the present 
decree. 

9. All the records of denunciations, informations, and ar- 
rests shall be addressed, in copj^ by the administrative bodies, 
to the National Convention, which shall send them to a com- 
mission of its members charged to make examination of them 
and to make a report thereof. 

10. There shall be formed a commission of six members of 
the National Convention, who shall be charged with the exam- 
ination of all the papers, to make a report thereof, and to draw 
up and present the documents of accusation, to look after the 
examination which shall be made in the extraordinary tribu- 
nal, to maintain a constant correspondence with the public 
accuser and the judges upon all the public matters which 
shall be sent to the tribunal, and to render an account there- 
of to the National Convention. 

11. The accused who shall wish to challenge one or more 
jurors shall be required to state the causes of challenge by 
one and the same document, and the tribunal shall pronounce 
upon the validity thereof within twenty-four hours. 

12. The jurors shall vote and frame their declaration pub- 
licly, speaking aloud and acting by majority of the votes. 

13. The judgments shall be carried cut without recourse 
to the tribunal of cassation. 

14. The accused fugitives who shall not present them- 
selves within three months from the trial shall be treated as 



154 The Revolutionary Tribunal 

emigres, and shall be subject to the same penalties, whether 
in relation to their persons or to their estates. 

Title II. Of the Penalties. 

1. The judges of the extraordinary tribunal shall pro- 
nounce the penalties provided by the penal code and the sub- 
sequent laws against the accused who are convicted ; and when 
the ofifences which shall remain shall continue to be in the 
class of those which ought to be punished by penalties of the 
correctional police, the tribunal shall pronounce these pen- 
alties, withO'Ut sending the accused to the police tribunals. 

2. The estates of those who shall be condemned to the 
penalty of death shall be acquired by the Republic and there 
shall be provision made for the support of the widows and 
children, if they have no estates besides. 

3. Those who may be convicted of crimes or ofifences 
which have not been provided for by the penal code and the 
subsequent laws, or whose punishment has not been deter- 
mined by the laws, and whose incivism and residence upon the 
territory of the Republic have been a matter of public trouble 
and disturbance, shall be condemned to the penalty of depor- 
tation. 



B. Law of 22 Prairial. June 10, 1794 (22 Prairial, Year 
II). Duvergier, Lois, VII, 190-192. 

1. The revolutionary tribunal shall have a president and 
four vice-presidents, one public accuser, four substitutes for 
the public accuser and twelve judges. 

2. The jurors shall be fifty in number. 

3. The different functions shall be discharged by the cit- 
izens whose names follow : ... (The omission relates 
exclusively to the personnel of the court.) 

The revolutionary tribunal shall divide itself into sections 
composed of twelve members, to wit: three judges and nine 
jurors, which jurors cannot give judgment at a number less 
than that of seven. 

4. The revolutionary tribunal is instituted in order to pun- 
ish the enemies of the people. 



The Revolutionary Tribunal 155 

5. 1"he enemies of the people are those who seek to de- 
stroy the public liberty, either by force or by artifice. 

6. Those are reputed enemies of the people who shall 
have promoted the re-establishment of royalty or sought to de- 
preciate or dissolve the National Convention and the revolu- 
tionary and republican government of which it is the centre; 

Those who shall have betrayed the Republic in the com- 
mand of places and armies, or in any other military function ; 
carried on correspondence with the enemies of the Republic; 
labored to make the supplies or the service of the armies fail ; 

Those who shall have sought to impede the supplies for 
Paris or to cause scarcity within the Republic ; 

Those who shall have seconded the projects of the ene- 
mies of France, either in aiding the withdrawal and the im- 
punity of conspirators and the aristocracy, or in persecuting 
and calumniating patriotism, or in corrupting the servants of 
the people, or in abusing the principles of the revolution, the 
laws or the measures of the government, by false and per- 
fidious applications ; 

Those who shall have deceived the people or the represent- 
atives of the people, in order to lead them into operations 
contrary to the interests of liberty ; 

Those who shall have sought to promote discouragement, 
in order to favor the enterprises of the tyrants leagued against 
the Republic ; 

Those who shall have spread false news in order to divide 
or disturb the people; 

Those who shall have sought to mislead opinion and to 
prevent the instruction of the people, to deprave morals and 
to corrupt the public conscience, to impair the energy and the 
purity of the revolutionary and republican principles, either by 
stopping the progress of them, or by counter-revolutionary or 
insidious writings, or by any other machination ; 

The contractors whose bad faith compromises the safety of 
the Republic, and the wasters of the public fortune, other than 
those included in the provisions of the law of 7 Frimaire ; 

Those who, being charged with public functions, abuse 
them in order to serve the enemies of the revolution, to dis- 
tress the patriots or to oppress the people ; 

Finally, all those who are designated in the preceding law 



156 The Revolutionary Tribunal 

relative to the punishment of the conspirators and counter- 
revolutionaries, and who, whatever the means or the appear- 
ances with which they cover themselves, shall have made an 
attack upon the liberty, unity, and security of the Republic, or 
labored to prevent the strengthening of them. 

7. The penalty provided for all offences, the jurisdiction 
of which belongs tO' the revolutionary tribunal, is death. 

8. The proof necessary to convict the enemies of the peo- 
ple is every kind of evidence, either material or moral or 
verbal or writren, which can naturally secure the approval of 
every just and reasonable spirit; the rule of judgment is the 
conscience of the jurors enlightened by love of the father- 
land ; their aim, the triumph of the Republic and the ruin of 
its enemies ; the procedure, the simple means which good sense 
dictates in order to come to the knowledge of the truth, in 
the forms which the law determines. 

It is confined to the following points : 

9. Every citizen has the right to seize and to arraign be- 
fore the magistrates conspirators and counter-revolutionaries. 
He is required to denounce them when he knows of them. 

10. Nobody can arraign a person before the revolutionary 
tribunal, except the National Convention, the committee of 
public safety, the committee of general security, the represent- 
atives of the people who are commissioners of the Conven- 
tion, and the public accuser of the revolutionaiy tribunal. 

11. The constituted authorities in general cannot exercise 
this right without having notified the committee of public 
safety and the committee of general security and obtained 
their authorisation. 

12. The accused shall be examined in public session : the 
formality of the secret examination which precedes is sup- 
pressed as superfluous ; it shall occur only under special cir- 
cumstances in which it shall be judged useful for a knowledge 
of the truth. 

13. If proofs exist, either material or moral, independ- 
ently 01 the testified proof, there shall be no further hearing 
of testimony, unless that formality appears necessary, either 
to discover the accomplices or for other important considera- 
tions of public interest. 

14. In a case in which there shall be occasion for this 



The Revolutionary Tribunal 157 

proof, the public accuser shall cause to be summoned the wit- 
nesses who ca,n show the way to justice, without distinction of 
witnesses for or against. 

15. All the proceedings shall be conducted in public and 
no written deposition shall be received, unless the witnesses 
are so situated tha'c they cannot be brought before the tri- 
bunal, and in that case an express authorisation of the com- 
mittees of public safet}^ and general security shall be neces- 
sary. 

16. The law gives sworn patriots to calumniated patriots 
for counsel ; it does not grant them to conspirators. 

17. The pleadings finished, the jurors shall formulate their 
verdicts and the judges shall pronounce the penalty in the 
manner determined by the laws. 

The president shall propound the question with lucidity, 
precision and simplicity. If it was presented in an equivocal 
or inexact manner, the jury may ask that it be propounded in 
another manner. 

18. The public accuser may not on his own authority dis- 
charge a prisoner bound over to the tribunal or one whom he 
shall have caused to be arraigned there; in a case in which 
there is no matter for an accusation before the tribunal, he 
shall make a written report of it, with a statem.ent of the rea- 
sons, to the chamber of the council, which shall pronounce. 
But no prisoner may be discharged from trial before the de- 
cision of the chamber has been communicated to the commit- 
tees of public safety and general security, who shall exam- 
ine it. 

19. A double register shall be kept of the persons ar- 
raigned before the revolutionary tribunal, one for the public 
accuser and the other for the tribunal, upon which shall be 
enrolled all the prisoners, according as they shall be ar- 
raigned. 

20. The Convention modifies all those provisions of the 
preceding laws which may not be in agreement with the pres- 
ent law and does not intend that the laws concerning the or- 
ganization of the ordinary tribunals should apply to the crimes 
of counter-revolution and to the action of the revolutionary 
tribunal. 

21. The report of the committee shall be joined to the 
present decree as instruction. 



158 Law for Revolutionary Committees 

33. Decree for Establishing the Revolutionary 
Committees. 

March 21, 1793. Duvergier, Lois, V, 206-207. 

The revolutionary committees created by this decree were 
among the most characteristic and potent agencies in the service 
of the revolutionary government. The powers granted in this de- 
cree were subsequently much increased in various ways, chiefly 
by additional decrees and by authorisation of the committee of 
public safety. For these powers at their greatest extent see No. 
45. 

Reference. Aulard, Revolution frangaise, 350-355. 

1. There shall be formed in each commune of the Repub- 
Hc and in each section of the communes divided into sections, 
at the hour which shall be indicated in advance by the gen- 
eral council, a committee composed of twelve citizens. 

2. The members of this committee, who cannot be chosen 
from the ecclesiastics, former nobles, former seigneurs of the 
locality, and agents of the former seigneurs, shall be chosen 
by ballot and by plurality of the votes. 

4. The committee of the commune, or each of the commit- 
tees of the sections of the comimune, shall be charged to re- 
ceive for its district the declarations of all the strangers ac- 
tually residing within the commune or who may arrive there. 

5. These declarations shall contain the names, age, profes- 
sion, place of birth and means of existence of the declarer. 

6. They shall be made within eight days after the publi- 
cation of the present decree; the list thereof .=;hall be printed 
and posted. 

7. Every foreigner who shall have refused or neglected to 
make his declaration before the committee of the commune or 
of the section in which he shall reside, within the period above 
prescribed, shall be required to leave the commune within 
twenty-four hours and the territory of the Republic within 
eight days. 



34. Decree upon the Press. 

March 29, 1793. Duvergier, Lois, V, 230. 

During the earlier stages of the revolution the freedom of the 
press was accepted both in principle and in practice. Without 



Committee of Public Safety Decree 159 

formally abandoning the principle, the royalist newspapers were 
suppressed after the establishment of the Republic, and Girondist 
newspapers after the proscription of the Girdonist deputies. This 
decree illustrates the method employed against the royalist news- 
papers and is typical of all decrees afCecting the press. 

Kefeeence. Aulard, licvolution frangaise, 359-361. 

The National Convention decrees : 

1. Whoever shall be convicted of having composed or 
printed works or writings which incite to the dissolution of 
the national representation, the re-establishment of monarchy 
or of any other power which constitutes an attack upon the 
sovereignty of the people, shall be arraigned before the extra- 
ordinary tribunal and punished with death. 

2. The vendors, distributors and hawkers of these works 
or writings shall be condemned to an imprisonment which 
shall not exceed three months, if they declare the authors, 
printers or other ' persons from whom they have obtained 
them; if they refuse this declaration, they shall be punished 
by two years in prison. 



35. Decree for Establishing the Committee 01 
Public Safety. 

April 6, 1793. Duvergier, Lois, V, 240. 

This document shows the Committee of Public Safety in its 
original character, that of a ministry responsible to the Conven- 
tion. (Bee Aulard, Jierolution francuisej 384-335.) Through 
changes in its membership and tlie multiplication of its powers 
and duties, in part by decree of. the Convention, in part by mere 
custom, it gradually became a very different institution. For its 
later character see Nos. 43 and 45. 

References. Gardiner, French Revolution, 145-146 ; Mathews, 
Frencli. liei-olution, 228-231 ; Stephens, French Revolution, II, Ch. 
ix ; Aulard, Revolution frangaise, 329-342. 

The National Convention decrees : 

1. There shall be formed, by the call of names, a commit- 
tee of public safety, composed of nine members of the Na- 
tional Convention. 

2. The committee shall deliberate in secret ; it shall be 
charged to supervise and accelerate the action of the adminis- 
tration entrusted to the provisional executive council, of which 
it may even suspend the orders, when it shall believe them 



i6o Robespierre's Declaration of Rights 

contrary to the national interest, subject to giving informa- 
tion thereof to the Convention without delay. 

3. It is authorised to take, under urgent circuinstances, 
measures of external and internal defence ; and the orders 
signed by the majority of its deliberating members, vi^hich can- 
not be less than two-thirds, shall be executed without delay 
by the provisional executive council. It shall not in any case 
issue warrants of capture or arrest, except against the execu- 
tive agents, and subject to rendering an account thereof with- 
out delay to the Convention. 

4. The National Treasury shall hold at the disposal of the 
committee of public safety [a sum of money] to the amount 
of a hundred thousand livres for secret expenses, which shall 
be disbursed by the committee and paid upon its commands, 
which shall be signed as are the orders. 

5. It shall make each week in writing a general report ot 
its operations and of the situation of the Republic. 

6. A register of all its deliberations shall be kept. 

7. This committee is established only for one month. 

8. The national treasury shall remain independent of the 
committee of execution and subject to the immediate sur- 
veillance of the Convention, according to the method deter- 
mined by the decrees. 



36. Robespierre's Proposed Declaration of 
Rights. 

April 24, 1793. Monitetir, May 5, 1793. {Reimpression, XVI, 
294-296). 

This document was brought forward in the Convention by 
Robespierre during the debates over the constitution of the Year 
I. Although not actually adopted it possesses great interest as 
a profession of faith of its author. The economic tendency of the 
document and its implications in regard to foreign policy should 
be particularly noticed. 

References. Von Syhel. Frencli Revolution, III. 64 ; Aulard, 
RSvolution francaise, 290-292 ; Jaurfes, Histoire socialiste, IV, 1563- 
1572. 

The representatives of the French people, met in National 
Convention, recognizing that human laws which do not flow 
from the eternal laws of justice and reason are only the out- 



Robespierre's Declaration of Rights i6i 

rages of ignorance and despotism upon humanity ; convinced 
that neglect and contempt of the natural rights of man are the 
sole causes of the crimes and misfortunes of the world ; have 
resolved to set forth in a solemn declaration these sacred and 
inalienable rights, in order that all citizens, being enabled to 
compare constantly the acts of the government v^^ith the pur- 
pose of every social institution, may never permit themselves 
to be oppressed and disgraced by tyranny ; and in order that 
the people may always have before their eyes the foundations 
of their liberty and their welfare; the magistrate, the rule of 
his duties ; the legislator, the purpose of his mission. 

In consequence, the National Convention proclaims in 'the 
face of the world and under the eyes of the Immortal Legis- 
lator the following declaration of the rights of man and 
citizen. 

1. The purpose of every political association is the main- 
tenance of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man and 
the development of all his faculties. 

2. The principal rights of man are those of providing for 
the preservation of his existence and his liberty. 

3. These rights belong equally to all men, whatever may 
be the difference of their physical and mental powers. 

4. Equality of rights is established by nature : society, far 
from impairing it, exists only to guarantee it against the abuse 
of power which renders it illusory. 

5. Liberty is the power which belongs to man to exercise 
at his will all his faculties; it has justice for rule, the rights 
of others for limits, .nature for principle, and the law for safe- 
guard. 

6. The right to assemble peaceably, the right to express 
one's opinions, either by means of the press or in any other 
manner, are such necessary consequences of the principle of 
the liberty of man, that the necessity to enunciate them sup- 
poses either the presence or the fresh recollection of despot- 
ism. 

7. The law can forbid only that which is injurious to so- 
ciety; it can order only that which is useful. 

8. Every law which violates the imprescriptible rights of 
man is essentially unjust and tyrannical; it is not a law. 

9. Property is the right which each citizen has, to enjoy 



i62 Robespierre's Declaration of Rights 

and dispose of the portion of goods which the law guarantees 
to him. 

10. The right of property is restricted, as are all the others, 
by the obligation to respect the possessions of others. 

11. It cannot prejudice the security, nor the liberty, nor 
the existence, nor the property of our fellow creatures. 

12. All traffic which violates this principle is essentially 
illicit and immoral. 

13. Society is under obligation to provide for the support 
of all its members either by procuring work for them or by 
assuring a means of existence to those who are not in con- 
dition to work. 

14. The relief indispensable for those who lack the neces- 
sities of life is a debt of those who possess a superfluity; it 
belongs to the law to determine the manner in which this 
debt must be discharged. 

15. The citizens whose incomes do not exceed what is nec- 
essary for their subsistence are exempted from contributing 
to the public expenses ; the others shall support them pro- 
gressively, accordingly to the extent of their fortunes. 

16. Society ought to favor with all its power the progress 
of public reason and to put instruction at the door of all the 
citizens. 

17. Law is the free and solemn expression of the will of 
the people. 

18. The people are the sovereign, the government is their 
creation, the public functionaries are their agents ; the people 
can, when they please, change their government and recall 
their mandatories. 

19. No portion of the people can exercise the power of 
the entire people ; but the opinion which it expresses shall 
be respected as the opinion of a portion of the people who 
ought to participate in the formation of the general will. Each 
section of the assembled sovereign ought to enjoy the right 
to express its will with entire liberty ; it is essentially inde- 
pendent of all the constituted authorities and is capable of 
regulating its police and its deliberations. 

20. The law ought to be equal for all. 

21. All citizens are admissable to all public offices, without 
any other distinction than those of their virtues and tnlents 



Robespierre's Declaration of Rights 163 

and without any other title than the confidence of the people. 

22. All citizens have an equal right to participate in the 
selection of the mandatories of the people and in the forma- 
tion of the law. 

23. In order that these rights may not be illusory and the 
equality chimerical, society ought to give salaries to the pub- 
lic functionaries and to provide so that all the citizens who 
live by their labor can be present in the public assemblies to 
which the law calls them, without compromising their exist- 
ence or that of their families. 

24. Every citizen ought to obey religiously the magistrates 
and the agents of the government, when they are the organs 
or the executors of the law. 

25. But every act against the liberty, security, or property 
of a man, committed by anyone whomsoever, even in the name 
of the law, outside of the cases determined by it and the forms 
which it prescribes, is arbitrary and void; respect for the law 
even forbids submission to it ; and if an attempt is made to 
execute it by violence, it is permissible to repel it by force. 

26. The right to present petitions tO' the depositories of the 
public authorit}'^ belongs to every person. Those to whom they 
are addressed ought to pass upon the points which are the 
object thereof; but they can never interdict, nor restrain, nor 
condemn their use. 

27. Resistance to oppression is a consequence of the other 
rights of man and citizen. 

28. There is oppression against the social body when one 
of its members is oppressed. There is oppression against each 
member of the social body when the social body shall be op- 
pressed. 

29. When the government violates the rights of the peo- 
ple, insurrection is for the people and for each portion of the 
people the most sacred of rights and the most indispensable 
of duties. 

30. When the social guarantee is lacking to a citizen he 
re-enters into the natural right to defend all his rights him- 
self. 

31. In either case, to tie down to legal forms resistance 
to oppression is the last refinement of tyranny. In every free 
state the law ought especially to defend public and personal 

s 



164 Deputies on Mission Decree 

liberty against the abuse of the authority of those who gov 
ern ; every institution which is not based upon the assumption 
that the people are good and the magistrate is corruptible is 
vicious. 

32. The public offices cannot be considered as distinctions, 
nor as rewards, but only as duties. 

2^. The offences of the mandatories of the people ought 
to be severely and quickly punished. No one has the right to 
claim for himself more inviolability than other citizens. The 
people have the right to know all the transactions of their 
mandatories ; these ought to render to them a faithful account 
of their own administration and to submit to their judgment 
with respect. 

34. Men of all countries are brothers and the different 
peoples ought to aid one another, according to their power, 
as if citizens of the same state. 

35. The one who oppresses a single nation declares him- 
self the enemy of all. 

36. Those who make war on a people in order to arrest 
the progress of liberty and to destroy the rights of man ought 
to be pursued by all, not as ordinary enemies, but as assassins 
and rebellious brigands. 

27- Kings, aristocrats and tyrants, whoever they may be, 
are slaves in rebellion against the sovereign of the earth, 
which is mankind, and against the legislator of the universe, 
which is nature. 



37. Decree upon the Deputies on Mission. 



April 30, 1793. Moniteur, May 3, 1793. (Reimpression, XVI, 
281-283). 

Among the institutions of tlie revolutionary government there 
was none more characteristic than the deputies on mission. (They 
are. also known as the representatives on mission.) The first ap- 
pearance of the system was at the time of the king's flight : after 
the 10th of August it developed rapidly. This decree applied only 
to the deputies sent on mission to the armies, but their powers 
were typical of all those sent out. It simply defined what had al- 
ready grown up in practice. In No. 45 the duties and powers of 
the deputies on mission are more fully set forth. 

References. Gardiner, French Revolution, 146-147 : Stephens, 
French Rerohifion, II, 320, 364-371, 548-554 ; Aulard, Revolution 
franQuise, 342-348. 



Deputies on Mission Decree 165 

The National Convention, after having heard the report of 
its Committee of Public Safety . . . decrees : 

I. All the powers delegated by the Convention to the com- 
missioners whom it has appointed to repair to the departments 
for recruiting, to the armies, upon the frontiers, coasts and in 
the harbors, are revoked. All the deputies who are on mission, 
except those hereinafter named, shall return directly to the 
body of the assembly. 

9. The commissioners of the Convention to the armies 
shall bear the titles of representatives of the people sent to 
such army; they shall wear the costume decreed the current 
April 3. 

10. The representatives of the people sent to the armies 
and the generals shall co-operate in order to make appoint- 
ments immediately for all the posts vacant or which shall 
come to be vacant, whether by death, resignation or dismissal, 
in conformity with the method of promotion which has been 
decreed ; and in cases of urgency and the lack of persons who 
have the qualifications required by law, they can appoint pro- 
visionally and for fifteen days only. 

II. The representatives of the people sent to the armies 
shall exercise the most active surveillance over the operations 
of the agents of the executive council all contractors and 
dealers for the armies, and over the conduct of the generals, 
officers and soldiers ; they may suspend all civil agents and 
appoint [others] provisionally. 

12. They can also suspend the military agents, but they 
can replace them only provisionally until after the approval 
of the Convention for suspension or until the persons ap- 
pointed or elected in virtue of the law have arrived at their 
posts. 

13. They shall look after the condition as regards defence 
and supply of provisions for all places, forts, harbors, coasts, 
armies and fleets of their district; they shall cause inventories 
to be prepared for all the magazines of the Republic, and 
they shall cause an account to be rendered daily of the condi- 
tion of all the descriptions of supplies, arms, provisions and 
munitions. 

14. They shall cause inspection to be made of all the 



i66 Deputies on Mission Decree 

armies and fleets of the republic ; they shall cause to be re- 
turned every fifteen days lists of the effectives of each corps, 
signed by the civil and military agents ; they shall take all 
measures which they shall deem suitable to accelerate the 
armament, equipment and incorporation of the volunteers and 
recruits in the existing organizations, and the armament and 
equipment of the fleets of the Republic; in these operations 
they shall co-operate with the admirals, generals and division 
commanders, and other agents of the executive council. 

15. In case of insufficiency of the forces decreed, they 
may make requisition upon the national guards of the depart- 
ments, whom they shall cause to be organized into battalions 
after the method which shall be decreed ; they shall also make 
requisition for. the mounted national guards, in order to com- 
plete the existing organizations ; and when the organizations 
shall be complete, they can form new squadrons of them, 
making use of pleasure horses and those of the nnigrcs or 
those which can be procured. 

16. They shall take all measures to discover and to cause 
to be arrested the generals, and to cause to be arrested and 
arraigned before the revolutionary tribunal every military man, 
civil agent and other citizen who may have aided, favored or 
advised a conspiracy against the liberty and security of the 
Republic, or who may have plotted for the disorganization of 
the armies and fleets and squandered the public funds. 

-^~ 17. They shall cause to be distributed to the troops the 
bulletins, addresses, proclamations and instructions of the Con- 
vention, which shall be addressed to the armies by the com- 
mittee of correspondence ; they shall employ all the means of 
instruction which are in their power, in order to maintain 
there the republican spirit. 

--^ 18. The representatives of the people sent to the armies 
are invested with unlimited powers for the exercise of the 
powers which are delegated to them ; they can make requisi- 
tion upon the administrative bodies and all civil and military 
agents ; they can act in the number of two and can employ 
the number of agents which shall be necessary for them. 
Their orders shall be executed provisionally. 

20. The representatives of the people sent to the armies 



Convention and Education 167 

shall render account of their operations, at least each week, 
to the Convention; they shall be required to address each day 
to the Committee of Public Safety the record of their opera- 
tions, copies of their orders and proclamations, and of all 
inventories and lists of supplies, v^rhich they shall have caused 
to be drawn up; they shall also address each day to the com- 
mittee of finance and to the national treasury a detailed ac- 
count of the lists of expenses which they shall have examined 
and endorsed. 

21. The Committee of Public Safety shall present each 
week to the Convention a summary report of the operations 
of the various commissioners ; the committee of finance shall 
also make each week a report of the expenses examined and 
approved by them; these reports shall be printed and dis- 
tributed. 

22. The representatives of the people sent to the armies 
shall be renewed by half each month ; they shall return to the 
Convention only after an authorization given by it, except in 
urgent cases, and in virtue of a decree of the commission 
with a statement of reasons. 

23. The Committee of Public Safety shall furnish instruc- 
tions to the representatives of the people sent to the armies, in 
order to secure uniformity in their operations. 

26. The representatives of the people sent to the armies, 
who are appointed by the present decree, shall continue, each 
in his district, the supervision over the recruiting and the 
organization into departments and districts of the countries 
recently united to the Republic. 

27. The Committee of Public Safety shall send the present 
decree to the commissioners ®f the Convention at present on 
mission. Those who are appointed by the present decree shall 
repair directly to their new posts, and those who are at pres- 
ent with the armies shall remain there until they may be re- 
placed. 

38. Documents upon the Convention and 
Education. 

The Convention was greatly interested in education. Mucli 
time was devoted to tlie formulation of educational plans, even at 



i68 Convention and Education 

the most critical stages of national danger. The plans first adopt- 
ed were frequently changed. Of the plans here given the first two 
represent the most ambitious schemes of the Convention for pri- 
mary and secondary schools respectively. Document C is the final 
scheme for the whole educational system. 

References. Stephens, Yale Review, IV, 314-323 ; Lavisse and 
Rambaud, Histoire generale, VIII, 534-.").56 ; Rambaud, Civilisation 
conteiiiporaine, 162-16S ; .Taures, Histoire socialiste, IV, 1465-1490, 
V, 186-206. 

A. Decree upon Primary Education. May 30, 1793. Du- 
vergier, Lois, V, 309. 

1. There shall be a primary school in all places which 
have from four hundred to fifteen hundred persons. 

This school shall serve for all the inhabitants except peo- 
ple who shall be more than a thousand toises distant. 

2. There shall be in each of these schools a teacher 
charged to instruct the pupils in the branches of knowledge 
necessary to citizens in order to exercise their rights, to dis- 
charge their duties and to administer their domestic affairs. 

3. Tlie committee of public instruction shall present the 
proportional method for the more populous communes and the 
cities. 

4. The teachers shall be charged to give lectures and in- 
struction once per week to citizens of every age and of both 
sexes. 

5. The project of the present decree presented by the 
committee of public instruction shall be irrevocably placed as 
the order of the day for every Thursday. 

B. Decree upon Secondary Education. February 25, 1795 
(7 Ventose, Year III). Duvergier, Lois, VIII, 29-30. 

Chapter I. Institution of the Central Schools. 

1. For instruction in the sciences, letters and arts there 
shall be established in the entire extent of the Republic cen- 
tral schools distributed on the basis of population ; the pro- 
portional basis shall be one school for three hundred thousand 
inhabitants. 

2. Each central school shall be composed of, ist, a profes- 
sor of mathematics ; 2d, a professor of experimental physics 
and chemistry; 3d, a professor of natural history; 4th, a 



Convention and Education 169 

professor of agriculture and commerce ; 5th, a professor of the 
method of the sciences or logic; 6th, a professor of political 
economy and legislation ; 7th, a professor of the philosophical 
history of peoples ; 8th, a professor of hygiene ; pth, a pro- 
fessor of arts and crafts ; loth, a professor of general gram- 
mar; nth, a professor of belles-lettres; 12th, a professor of 
ancient languages ; 13th, a professor of the living languages 
most appropriate to the localities ; 14th, a professor of the 
arts of design. 

3. In all the central schools the professors shall give their 
lessons in French. 

4. They shall have every month a public conference upon 
matters which affect the progress of the sciences, letters and 
arts most useful to society. 

5. At each central school there shall be, ist, a public li- 
brary ; 2d, a garden and a cabinet of natural history ; 3d, a 
cabinet of experimental physics ; 4th, a collection of machines 
and models for the arts and crafts. 

6. The committee of public instruction remains charged to 
cause to be composed the elementary books which must serve 
for the instruction in the central schools. 

Chapter III. Pupils of the Fatherland. 

1. The pupils who at the Festival of Youth shall be most 
distinguished and shall have obtained more especially the 
approbation of the people shall receive, if they are of small 
fortune, an annual pension in order to procure for them the 
opportunity to attend the central schools. 

2. Prizes of encouragement shall be distributed every 
year in the presence of the people at the Festival of Youth. 

The professor of the pupils who shall have won the prize 
shall receive a civic crown. 

3. In consequence of the present law, all the establish- 
ments devoted to public instruction under the name of col- 
leges and paid stipends by the nation, are and shall remain 
suppressed within the entire extent of the Republic. 

4. The committee of public instruction shall make a re- 
port upon the buildings and establishments already devoted 
to public instruction in the sciences and arts, such as botan- 
ical gardens, cabinets of natural history, fields intended for 



170 Convention and Education. 

experimeats in cultivation, observations, and societies of 
scholars and artists which it may be w^ell to preserve in the 
new plan of national instruction. 

C. Organic Act upon Education. October 25, 1795. (3 
Brumaire, Year IV). Duvergier, Lois, VIII, 357-360. 

Title III. Of the Special Schools. 

I. There shall be in the Republic schools especially intend- 
ed for the study of: ist, sstronomy; 2d, geometry and me- 
chanics; 3d, natural history; 4th, medicine; 5th, the veter- 
inary art; 6th, rural economy; 7th, antiquities; 8th, the polit- 
ical sciences; gth, painting, sculpture and architecture; loth, 
music. 



Title IV. National Institute of the Sciences and Arts. 

1. The National Institute of the Sciences and Arts belongs 
to the whole Republic ; it is located at Paris ; it is intended : 
1st, to improve the sciences and arts by uninterrupted research- 
es, by the publication of discoveries, by correspondence with 
foreign learned societies; 2d, to pursue, in conformity with 
the laws and orders of the Executive Directory, literary and 
scientific works which shall have for their purpose the gen- 
eral advantage and the glory of the Republic. 

2. It is composed of members residing at Paris and of an 
equal number scattered in the different parts of the Republic; 
it associates with itself foreign scholars, of whom the number 
is twenty-four, eight for each of the three classes. 

6. Each class of the Institute shall publish every year its 
discoveries and works. 

10. The Institute being once organized, the appointments 
to vacant places shall be made by the Institute out of a list, 
at least triple, presented by the class in which a place shall 
have become vacant. 



Constitution of the Year I 171 



39. Constitution of the Year I. 

June 24, 1793. Duvergier, Lois, V, 352-358. 

This constitution was drawn up by the Convention and was 
submitted to the people. Although accepted by them, it was nev- 
er put in operation, being first temporarily suspended and after- 
wards set aside. It possesses decided interest, nevertheless, since 
it represents the ideas of the Montagnards as to the best perma- 
nent form of government. It should be compared with their 
schemes of provisional government (Nos. 43 and 45) and with the 
constitutions of 1791 and of the Year III (Nos. 15 and 50), espec- 
ially with respect to the executive and legislative branches of the 
government. 

References. Mathews, French Revolution, 227-229 ; Stephens, 
French Revolution, II, 530-535 ; Cambridge Modern History, VIII, 
342 ; Aulard. Revolution frangoise. Part II, Ch. IV ; Lavisse and 
Rambaud, Histoire geverale, VIII, 179-180. 

Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. 

The French people, convinced that forgetfulness and con- 
tempts of the natural rights of man are the sole causes of 
the miseries of the world, have resolved to set forth in a 
solemn declaration these sacred and inalienable rights, in or- 
der that all the citizens, being able to compare unceasingly the 
acts of the government with the aim of every social institu- 
tion, may never allow themselves to be oppressed and debased 
by tyranny; and in order that the people may always have 
before their eyes the foundations of their liberty and their 
welfare, the magistrate the rule of his duties, the legislator 
the purpose of his commission. 

In consequence, it proclaims in the presence of the supreme 
being the following declaration of the rights of man and 
citizen. 

1. The aim of society is the common welfare. 
Government is instituted in order to guarantee to man the 

enjoyment of his natural and imprescriptible rights. 

2. These rights are equality, liberty, security, and prop- 
erty. 

3. -Ml men are equal by nature and before the law. 

4. Law is the free and solemn expression of the general 
will ; it is the same for all, whether it protects or punishes ; 
it can command only what is just and useful to society; it 
can forbid only what is injurious to it. 



172 Constitution of the Year I 

5. All citizens are equally eligible to public employments. 
Free peoples know no other grounds for preference in their 
elections than virtue and talent. 

6. Liberty is the power that belongs to man to do what- 
ever is not injurious to the rights of others; it has nature 
for its principle, justice for its rule, law for its defence; its 
moral limit is in this maxim : Do .not do to another that which 
you do not wish should be done to you. 

7. The right to express one's thoughts and opinions by 
means of the press or in any other manner, the right to as- 
semble peaceably, the free pursuit of religion, cannot be for- 
bidden. 

The necessity of enunciating these rights supposes either 
the presence or the fresh recollection of despotism. 

8. Securit}' consists in the protection afforded by society 
to each of its members for the preservation of his person, his 
rights, and his property. 

9. The law ought to protect public and personal liberty 
against the oppression of those who govern. 

10. No one ought to be accused, arrested, or detained ex- 
cept in the cases determined by law and according to the 
forms that It has prescribed. Any citizen summoned or seized 
by the authority of the law, ought to obey immediately; he 
makes himself guilty by resistance. 

11. Any act done against man outside of the cases and 
without the forms that the law determines is arbitraiy and 
tyrannical ; the one against whom it may be intended to be 
executed by violence has the right to repel it by force. 

12. Those who may incite, expedite, subscribe to, execute 
or cause to be executed arbitrary legal instruments are guilty 
and ought to be punished. 

13. Every man being presumed innocent until he has been 
pronounced guilty, if it is thought indispensable to arrest him, 
all severity that may not be necessary to secure his person 
ought to be strictly repressed by law. 

14. N'o one ought to be tried and punished except after 
having been heard or legally summoned, and except in virtue 
of a law promulgated prior to the offence. The law which 
would punish offences committed before it existed would be 



Constitution of the Year I 173 

a tyranny: the retroactive effect given to the law would be a 
crime. 

15. The law ought to impose only penalties that are strictly 
and obviously necessary: the punishments ought to be pro- 
portionate to the offence and useful to society. 

16. The right of property is that which belongs to every 
citizen to enjoy, and to dispose at his pleasure of his goods, 
income, and of the fruits of his labor and his skill. 

17. No kind of labor, tillage, or commerce can be forbid- 
den to the skill of the citizens. 

iS. Every ma,n can contract his services and his time, but 
he cannot sell himself nor be sold : his person is not an alien- 
able property. The law knows of no such thing as the status 
of servant ; there can exist only a contract for si^rvices and 
compensation between the man who works and the one who 
employs him. 

19. No' one can be deprived of the least portion of his 
property without his consent, unless a legally established pub- 
lic necessity requires it, and upon condition oi a just and 
prior compensation. 

20. No tax can be imposed except for the general advan- 
tage. All citizens have the right to participate in the estab- 
lishment of taxes, to watch over the employment of them, 
and to cause an account of them to be rendered. 

21. Public relief is a sacred debt. Society owes mainte- 
nance to unfortunate citizens, either in procuring work for 
them or in providing the means of existence for those who 
are unable to labor. 

22. Education is needed by all. Society ought to favor 
with all its power the advancement of the public reason and 
to put education at the door of every citizen. 

23. The social guarantee consists in the action of all to 
secure to each the enjoyment and the maintenance of his 
rights : this guarantee rests upon the national sovereignty. 

24. It cannot exist if the limits of public functions are 
not clearly determined by law and if the responsibility of ali 
the functionaries is not secured. 

25. The sovereignty resides in the people ; it is one and 
indivisible, imprescriptible, and inalienable. 

26. No portion of the people can exercise the power of 



174 Constitution of the Year I 

the entire people; but each section of the sovereign, in as- 
sembly, ought to enjoy the right to express its will with en- 
tire freedom. 

27. Let any person who may usurp the sovereignty be in- 
stantly put to death by free men. 

28. A people has always the right to review, to reform, and 
to alter its constitution. One generation cannot subject to its 
law the future generations. 

29. Eich citizen has an equal right to participate in the 
formation of the law and in the selection of his mandatories 
or his agents. 

30. Public functions are necessarily temporary; they can- 
not be considered as distinctions or rewards, but as duties. 

31. The offences of the representatives of. the people and 
of its agents ought never to go unpunished. No one has the 
right to claim for himself more inviolability than other citi- 
zens. 

32. The right to present petitions to the depositories of the 
public authority cannot in any case be forbidden, suspended, 
nor limited. 

23. Resistance to oppression is the consequence of the other 
rights of man. 

34. There is oppression against the social body when a 
single one of its members is oppressed : there is oppression 
against each member when the social body is oppressed. 

35. When the government violates the rights of the peo- 
ple, insurrection is for the people and for each portion of the 
people the most sacred of rights and the most indispensable 
of duties. , 

Constitutional Act. 

Of the Republic. 

1. The French Republic is one and indivisible. 

Of the Division of the People. 

2. The French people is divided, for the exercise of its 
sovereignty, into cantonal primary assemblies. 

3. It is divided for administration and for justice into 
departments, districts and municipalities. 



Constitution of the Year I 175 

Of the Conditions of Citizenship. 

4. Every man born and living in France fully twenty-one 
years, of age ; 

Every foreigner fully twentj'-one years of age, who, domi- 
ciled in France for a year. 

Lives there by his own labor, 

Or acquires property, \ 

Or marries a French woman, I 

Or adopts a .child. 

Or supports an aged man. 

Finally, every foreigner who shall be thought by the legis- 
lative body to have deserved well of humanity. 

Is admitted to the exercise of the rights of French citizen- 
ship. 

5. The exercise of the rights of citizenship is lost: 
By naturalization in a foreign country ; 

By the acceptance of employments or favofs proceeding 
from a non-popular government; 

By condemnation to ignominious or afflictive penalties until 
rehabilitation. 

6. The exercise of the rights of citizenship is suspended : 
By the condition of accusation; 

By a judicial order for contempt of court until the order is 
abrogated. 

Of the Sovereignty of the People. 

7. The sovereign people is the totality of French citizens. 

8. It selects its deputies directly. 

9. It delegates to electors the choice of administrators, 
the public arbitrators, crimmal judges, and judges of cassa- 
tion, 

10. It deliberates upon the laws. 

Of the Primary Assemblies. 

11. The primary assemblies are composed of the citizens 
domiciled for six months in each canton. 

12. They are composed at the least of two hundred and at 
the most of six hundred citizens summoned to vote. 

13. They are constituted by the selection of a president, 
secretaries and tellers. 

14. Their policing belongs to themselves. 



176 Constitution of the Year I 

15. No one can appear in them with arms. 

16. The elections are conducted by either secret or open 
voting at the choice of each voter. 

17. A primary assembly cannot in any case prescribe a 
uniform method of voting. 

18. The tellers attest the vote of citizens who, not know- 
ing how to write, prefer to vote by ballot. 

19. Votes upon the laws are given by yes or no. 

20. The will of the primary assembly is proclaimed as 
follov»^s : The citizens met in primary assembly . . . to 
the number of . . . voters, vote for or vote against, by 
a majority of ... 

Of the National Representation. 

21. Population is the sole basis of the national representa- 
tion. 

22. There is one deputy for every forty thousand persons. 

23. Each union of primary assemblies aggregating a pop- 
ulation of thirty-nine to forty-one thousand souls selects di- 
rectly one deputy. 

24. The selection is made by the majority of the votes. 

25. Each assembly counts the votes and sends a commis- 
sioner for the general recording to the place designated as 
the most central. 

26. If the fii'st return does not give a majority, a second 
appeal is made and a vote is taken upon the two citizens who 
have received the greatest number of votes. 

27. In case of an equality of votes the most aged has the 
preference, either as the one to be voted upon or as the one 
elected. In case of an equality of age, lot decides. 

28. Every Frenchman exercising the rights of citizenship 
is eligible throughout the extent of the Republic. 

29. Each deputy belongs to the entire nation. 

30. In case of the non-acceptance, resignation, forfeiture, 
or death of a deputy, his replacement is provided for by the 
primary assemblies which selected him. 

31. A deputy v/ho has resigned cannot leave his post until 
after the admittance of his successor. 

32. The French people assembles every year on the first 
of May for the elections. 



Constitution of the Year I ' 177 

23. They proceed to them, whatever may be the number 
of citizens there having the right to vote. 

34. The primary assemblies meet in extraordinary session 
upon the request of one-fifth of the citizens who have the 
right to vote there. 

35. The summons is issued in that case by the municipal- 
ity of the usual place of meeting. 

36. These extraordinary assemblies transact business only 
if a half plus one of the citizens who have the right to vote 
there are present. 

Of the Electoral AssembHes. 

37. The citizens meet in primary assemblies and select one 
elector for every two hundred citizens, whether present or 
not ; two for three hundred-one to four hundred ; three for 
five hundred-one to six hundred. 

38. The holding of electoral assemblies and the method of 
election are the same as in the primary assemblies. 

Of the Legislative Body. 

39. The legislative body is one, indivisible, and permanent. 

40. The session is for one year. 

41. It meets the first of July. 

42. The National Assembly cannot constitute itself if it 
is not composed of at least one-half of the deputies plus one. 

43. The deputies cannot be questioned, accused, or tried 
at any time for the opinions that they have expressed within 
the legislative body. 

44. They can be arrested for criminal acts, if taken in the 
act; but the warrant of arrest and the warrant of apprehen- 
sion can be issued against them only with th'3 authorisation 
of the legislative body. 

Holding of the Sittings of the Legislative Body. 

45. The sittings of the National Assembly are public. 

46. The minutes of its sittings are printed. 

47. It cannot deliberate unless it is composed of at leas*. 
two hundred members. 

48. It cannot refuse the word to its members in the order 
that tb.ey have clainied it. 

49. It decides by the majority of those present. 



178 Constitution of the Year I 

50. Fifty members have the right to require a vote by roll 
call. 

51. It has the right of discipline upon the conduct of its 
members within its own midst. 

52. The policing of the place of its sittings and of the en- 
virons of which it has fixed the extent belongs to it. 

Of the Functions of the Legislative Body. 

53. The legislative body proposes laws and issues decrees. 

54. Included mider the general name of law are the acts 
of the legislative body in regard to : 

Civil and criminal legislation ; 

The general administration of the revenues and ordinary 
expenses of the Republic ; 
The national domains ; 

The title, weight, impress, and denomination of the monies ; 
The nature, amount, and collection of the taxes ; 
The declaration of war; 

Every new general division of the French territory ; 
Public instruction ; 
Public honors to the memory of great men. 

55. Included under the special name oi decree are the acts 
of the legislative body in regard to ; 

The annual establishment of the land and sea forces; 

Permission or prohibition of the passage of foreign troops 
over French soil ; 

The introduction of foreign naval forces into the ports of 
the Republic ; 

Measures of general security and tranquility; 

The annual and occasional distribution of public relief and 
work ; - 

Orders for the coining of money of every sort ; 

Unforeseen and extraordinary expenses; 

The local and special measures for an administration, a 
commune, or a class of public works ; 

The defence of the soil ; 

Ratification of treaties ; 

The appointment and dismissal of commanders-in-chief of 
the armies ; 

Proceedings co enforce the responsibility of members of the 
council and of public officials : 



Constitution of the Year I 179 

Accusation of those accused of plots against the general 
security of the repubHc ; 

Every alteration in the division of French territory into 
parts ; 

National rewards. 

Of the Formation of the Lavi?. 

56. Projects of law are preceded by a report. 

57. The discussion cannot begin and the law cannot be 
provisionally decreed until fifteen days after the report. 

58. The project is printed and sent to all the communes 
of the Republic under this title : Proposed law. 

59. Forty days after the sending of the proposed law, if in 
one-half of the departments plus one, a tenth of the regularly 
constituted primary assemblies of each of them do not object, 
the project is accepted and becomes latv. 

60. If there is objection, the legislative body convokes the 
primary assemblies. 

Of the Title of the Laws and Decrees. 

61. The laws, the decrees, the judicial orders, and all pub- 
lic acts are superscribed : In the name of the French people, 
the year . . . of the French Republic. 

Of the Executive Council. 

62. There is an executive council composed of twenty-four 
members. 

63. The electoral assembly of each department selects a 
candidate. The legislative body chooses the members of the 
council from ilie general list. 

64. It is renewed by a half at each legislature in the last 
month of its session. 

65. The council is charged with the direction and super- 
vision of the general administration ; it can act only in the exe- 
cution of the laws and decrees of the legislative body. 

66. It appoints, from outside of its own body, the principal 
agents of the general administration of the Republic. 

67. The legislative body determines the number and the 
duties of these agents. 

68. These agents do not form a council; they are separate 
and are without direct relations with each other ; they do not 
exercise any personal authority . 



i8o Constitution of the Year I 

6g. The council appoints, from outside its own body, the 
foreign agents of the Republic. 

70. It negotiates the treaties. 

71. The members of the council, in cases of betrayal of 
trust, are accused by the legislative body. 

^2. The council is responsible for the non-execution of the 
laws and decrees and for the abuses of which it does not give 
notice. 

yZ- It recalls and replaces the agents within its appoint- 
ment. 

74. It is required to denounce them, if there is occasion, to 
the judicial authorities. 

Of the Relations of the Executive Council with the 
Legislative Body. 

75. The executive council resides near the legislative 
body; it has admittance and a separate position in the place 
of its meetings. 

76. It is heard whenever it has a statement to make. 

"jy. The legislative body summons it into its presence, in 
whole or in part, whenever it ibinks expedient. 

Of the Administrative and Municipal Bodies. 

78. There is in each commune of the Republic a municipal 
administration ; 

In each district, an intermediate administration ; 
In each department, a central administration . 

79. The municipal officers are elected by the communal as- 
semblies. 

80. The administrators are appointed by the department 
and district electoral assemblies. 

81. The municipalities and the administrations are renewed 
each year by half. 

82. The administrators and municipal officers have no rep- 
resentative character. 

They cannot in any case alter the acts of the legislative 
body nor suspend the execution of them. 

83. The legislative body fixes the duties of the municipal 
officers and the administrators, the rules of their subordination, 
and the penalties that they may incur. 



Constitution of the Year I 



i«i 



Of the Tribunal of Cassation. 

98. There is a tribunal of cassation for the whole Re- 
public. 

99. This tribunal does not have jurisdiction over the facts 
of cases. 

It passes upon the violation of forms and upon clear infrac- 
tions of the law. 

100. The members of this court are appointed every year by 
the electoral assem'blies. 

Of the Public Taxes. 
lOi. No citizen is exempt from the honorable obligation to 
contribute to the public expenses. 

Of the National Treasury. 

102. The national treasury is the central point of the re- 
ceipts and expenditures of the Republic. 

103. It is administered by responsible agents appointed by 
the executive council. 

104. These agents are watched over by commissioners ap- 
pointed by the legislative body, taken from outside of itself, 
;md responsible for the abuses of whdch they do not give 
notice. 

Of the Book-Keeping. 

105. The accounts of the agents of the national treasury 
and of the administrators of the public monies are rendered an- 
nually to responsible commissioners appointed by the execu- 
tive council. 

106. These auditors are watched over by commissioners 
appointed by the legislative body, taken from outside of it- 
self, and responsible for the abuses and errors of which they 
do not give notice. 

The legislative body approves the accounts. 

Of the Forces of the Republic. 

107. The general force of the Republic is composed of the 
entire people. 

108. The Republic supports, even in time of peace, a paid 
army and navy. 

109. All Frenchmen are soldiers ; they are all trained in 
the handling of arms. 



i82 Constitution of the Year I 

84. The sittings of the municipalities and the administra- 
tions are public. 

Of Civil Justice. 

85. The code of civil and penal law is uniform for the 
whole Republic. 

86. No attack can be made upon the right that the citizens 
have to cause their differences to be passed upon by arbitrators 
of their own choice. 

87. The decision of these arbitrators is final, if citizens do 
not reserve the right to object. 

88. There are justices of the peace elected by the citizens of 
the districts fixed by the law. 

89. They conciliate and pass judgment without expense. 
go. Their number and competency are regulated by the 

legislative body. 

91. There are public arbitrators elected by the electoral as- 
semblies. 

92. Their number and their districts are fixed by the legis- 
lative body. 

93. They have jurisdiction over cases which have not been 
finally terminated by the private arbitrators or by justices of 
the peace. 

94. They deliberate in public. 
They deliver their opinions orally. 

They decide in the last resort, upon oral pleas or simple me- 
morial, without proceedings and without expense. 
They state the grounds for their decisions. 

95. The justices of the peace and the public arbitrators are 
elected every year. 

Of Criminal Justice. 

96. No citizen can be tried upon a criminal charge except 
upon an accusation received by the jurors or decreed by the 
legislative body. 

The accused have counsel chosen by themselves or ofificially 
appointed. 

The examination is public. 

The facts and the intent are declared by a trial jury. 

The penalty is awarded by a criminal tribunal. 

97. The criminal judges are elected every year by the elec- 
toral assemblies. 



Constitution of the Year I 183 

no. There is no commander-in-chief. 

111. Distinctions of rank, their distinguishing marks and 
subordination exist only in relation to the service and during 
its continuance. 

112. The public force employed for the maintenance of 
order and peace within the country acts only upon the written 
requisition of the constituted authorities. 

113. The public force employed against enemies from 
abroad acts under the orders of the executive council. 

114. No armed body can deliberate. 

Of the National Conventions. 

115. If, in one-half of the departments plus one, one-tenth 
of the regularly constituted primary assemblies of each of them 
request the revision of the constitutional act or the alteration of 
some of its articles, the legislative body is required to con- 
voke all the primary assemblies of the Republic, in order to 
ascertain if there is occasion for a national convention. 

116. The national convention is formed in the same man- 
ner as the legislatures and annexes the powers thereof. 

117. It occupies itself, in relation to the constitution, only 
with the objects that have led to its convocation. 

Of the Relations of the French Republic with 
Foreign Nations. 

118. The French people is the friend and natural ally of 
the free peoples. 

119. It does not interfere in the government of other na- 
tions ; it does not permit other nations to interfere in its own. 

120. It gives asylum to foreigners banished from their 
fatherland for the cause of liberty. 

It refuses it to tyrants. 

121. It does not make peace with an enemy that occupies 
its territory. 

Of the Guaranty of Rights. 

122. The constitution guarantees to all Frenchmen equality, 
liberty, security, property, the public debt, the free exercise of 
worship, a public education, public relief, unlimited freedom of 
the press, the right of petition, the right to meet in the pop- 
ular societies, and the enjoyment of all the rights of man. 

123. The French Republic honors loyalty, courage, old age, 



184 Decree for Levy en Masse 

filial devotion, and misfortune. It places the trust of the con- 
stitution under the guardianship of all the virtues. 

124. The declaration of rights and the constitutional act 
are graven upon tablets in the midst of the legislative body and 
m public places. 



40. Decree for the Levy en Masse. 

August 23, 1793. Duvergier, Lois, VI, 107-108. 

This document exhibits something of the spirit with which 
France met the invasion of its territory, and may serve to indicate 
how it was possible for her to accomplish so much against such 
overwhelming odds. It was, perhaps, never intended that the 
decree should be everywhere put in force. It was enforced in the 
invaded departments and those adjacent. The precise effects of 
the measure is a matter of dispute. 

Refeeences. Gardiner, French Revolution, 170-171 ; Von Sy- 
bel. French Revolution, III, 165-169 ; Cambridge Modern History, 
VIII, 348 ; American Historical Review, IX, 525-532 ; Lavisse and 
Rambaud, Histoire oenerale, VIII, 267-269 ; Jaurfes, Histoire social- 
iste, IV, 1644-1646. 

1. From this moment until that in which the enemy shall 
have been driven from the soil of the Repiiblic, all Frenchmen 
are in permanent requisition for the service of the armies. 

The young men shall go to battle ; the married men shall 
forge arms and transport provisions ; the women shall make 
tents and clothing and shall serve in the hospitals ; the children 
shall turn oJd linen into lint; the aged shall betake tbeimseives 
to the public places in order to arouse the courage of the 
warriors and preach the hatred of kings and the unity of the 
Republic. 

2. The national buildings shall be converted into barracks, 
the public places into workshops for arms, the soil of the cel- 
lars shall be washed in order to extract therefrom the saltpetre. 

3. The arms of the regulation calibre shall be reserved ex- 
clusively for those who shall march against the 'enemy; the 
service of the interior shaJl be performed with hunting pieces 
and side arms. 

4. The saddle horses are put in requisition to complete the 
cavalry corps ; the draught-horses, other than those employed 
in agriculture, shall convey the artillery and the provisions. 

5. The Committee of Public Safety is charged to take all 



The Law of Suspects 185 

the necessary measures to set up without delay an extraordi- 
nary manufacture of arms of every sort which corresponds 
with the ardor and energy of the French people. It is, ac- 
cordingly, authorised to form all the establishments, factories, 
workshops and mills which shall be deemed necessary for the 
carrying on of these works, as well as to put in requisition, 
within the entire extent of the Republic, the artists and work- 
ingmen who can contribute to their success. For this purpose 
there shall be put at the disposal of the Minister of War a 
sum of thirty millions, to be taken out of the four hundred 
ninety-eight milhon two hundred thousand livres in assignats 
which are in reserve in the fund of the three keys. The cen- 
tral establishment of this extraordinary manufacture shall be 
fixed at Paris. 

6. The representatives of the people sent out for the execu- 
tion of the present law shall have the same authority in their 
respective districts, acting in concert with the Committee of 
Public Safety; they are invested with the unlimited powers 
assigned to the representatives of the people to the armies. 

7. Nobody can get himself replaced in the service for 
which he shall have been requisitioned. The public function- 
aries shall remain at their posts. 

8. The levy shall be general. The unmarried citizens and 
widowers without children, from eighteen Lo twenty-five years, 
shall march first; they shall assemble without delay at the 
head-town of their districts, where they shall practice every 
day at the manual of arms while awaiting the hour of de- 
parture. 



41. The Law of Suspects. 



September 17, 1793. Duvergier, Lois, VI, 172-173. 

This famous law was one of the numerous exceptional meas- 
ui-es taken in August and September, 1793, which mark the be- 
ginning of the reign of terror. To understand why it was enacted 
the precise status of both the foreign and civil wars then in prog- 
ress should be noted. The terms in which the classes of suspects 
are defined call for special attention. The "committees of surveil- 
lance" to which the arrest of suspects is entrusted were those 
commonly called the revolutionary committees. (See No. 33.) 



i86 The Law of Suspects 



P^ 



References. Stephens, French. Revolution, II, 324-325 ; Au- 
lard, Revolution franQWise, 351 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire 
g^nerale, VIII, 191. 



I. Immediately after the publication of the present de- 
cree all the suspect-persons who are in the territory of the 
Republic and who are still at liberty shall be placed under 
arrest. _ 

**^'2. Tliese are accounted suspect-persons: ist, those who by 
their conduct, their connections, their remarks, or their writ- 
ings show themselves the partisans of tyranny or federalism 
^nd the enemies of liberty^ 2d, those who cannot, in the manner 
prescribed by the decree of March 2ist last, justify their 
means of existence and the performance of their civic duties ; 
3'd, those who have been refused certificates of civism ; 4th, 
public functionaries suspended or removed from their functions 
by the National Convention or its commissioners and not re- 
instated, especially those v/ho have been or shall be removed 
in virtue of the decree of A.ugust I4tli last; 5th, those of the 
former nobles, all of the husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, 
sons or daughters, brothers, or sisters, and agents of the 
emigres who have not constantly manifested their attach- 
ment to the revolution ; 6th, those who have emigrated from 
France in the interval froni Jul}' i, 1789, to the publication 
of the decree of March 30,-April 8, 1792, although they may 
have returned to France within the period fixed by that decree 
or earlier. 

3. The committees of surveillance established according to 
the decree of March 21st last, or those which have been sub- 
stituted for them, either by the orders of the representatives 
of the people sent with the armies and into the departments, 
or in virtue of special decrees of the National Convention, are 
charged to prepare, each in its district, the list of suspect-per- 
sons, to issue warrants of arrest against them, and to cause 
seals to be put upon their papers. The comm.anders of the 
public force to whom these warrants shall be delivered shall be 
required to put them into execution immediately, under pen- 
alty of removal. 

4. The members of the committee without being seven in 
number and an absolute majority of votes cannot order the 
arrest of any person. 

5. The persons arrested as suspects shall be first conveyed 



Law of the Maximum 187 

to the jail of the place of their imprisonment: in default of 
jails, they shall be kept from view in their respective dwel- 
lings. 

6. Within the eight days following they shall be trans- 
ferred to the national building, which the admiinistrations of 
the department, immediately after the receipt of the present 
decree, shall be required to designate and to cause to be pre- 
pared for that purpose. 

7. The prisoners can cause to be transferred to these 
buildings the movables which are of absolute necessity to 
them; they shall remain there under guard until the peace. 

8. The expenses of custody shall be at the charge of the 
prisoners and shall be divided among them equally; this cus- 
tody shall be confided preferably to the fathers of families and 
the parents of the citizens who are upon or shall go to the 
frontiers. The salary for it is fixed for each man of the guard 
at the value of a day and a half of labor. 

9. The committees of surveillance shall send without delay 
to the committee of general security of the National Conven- 
tion the list of the persons whom they shall have caused to be 
arrested, with the reasons for their arrest and the papers which 
shall have been seized with them as suspect-persons. 

10. The civil and criminal tribunals can, if there is need, 
cause to be arrested and sent into the above mentioned jails 
persons accused of offences in respect of whom it may have 
been declared that there was no ground for accusation, or who 
may have been acquitted of the accusations brought against 
them. 

42. Law of the Maximum. 

SeEtembei- 29, 1793. Duvergier, Lois, VI, 193-195. 

- Among tB6~eTtceptlonal measures of August and September. 
1793, the most important from the economic standpoint were those 
fixing maximum prices of wages and of many articles of necessity. 
The law here given is the most comprehensive in a series of such 
measures. The idea of fixing prices in this manner was not new. 
but was simply an extension of the practices of the government of 
the old regime and of measures taken in the spring of 1793. In 
connection with this law the operation of the Parisian revolution- 
ary army and the system of requisitions should be noted. ThQ 
law was not repealed until December 24, 1794. 

References. Mathews, French Revolution, 24.5-246; Steph- 
ens, French Revolution, II. 353-354 ; Lavisse and Rambaud. His- 
toire fienernle, VIII, 190-191, 626-627; Jaures, Histoire socialister 
IV, 1668-1680, 1776-1786. 



i88 Law of the Maximum 

1. The articles which the Convention has decided to be of 
prime necessity and for which it has beHeved that it ought to 
fix the maximum or highest price are: fresh meat, salt meat 
and bacon, butter, sweet-oil, cattle, salt fish, wine, brandy, vin~ 
egar, cider, beer, tire-wood, charcoal, mineral coal, candles, 
combustible oil, salt, soda, sugar, honey, white paper, skins, 
iron, brass, lead, steel, copper, hemp, linen, wool, woolens, 
fabrics, the raw materials which serve for fabrics, sabots, 
shoes, cabbages and turnips, soap, potash, and tobacco. 

2. For the articles included in the above list, the maximum 
price for fire-wood of the first quality, that of charcoal and 
of mineral coal, are the same as in 1790, plus a twentieth of 
the price. The decree of August 19th upon the determination 
by th.€ departments of the prices of fire-wood, coal and peat is 
repealed. 

The maximum or highest price of tobacco in rolls is twenty 
sons per pound, poids de marc; in that of smoking tobacco 
is ten sous; that of salt per pound is two sous; that of soap 
is twenty-five sous. 

3. The maximum of the price of all the other commodities 
and articles of merchandise included in article i for the whole 
extent of the Republic, until the month of September next, 
shall be the price which each of them had in 1790, such as is 
established by the official price-lists or the market price of each 
department, and a third over and above this same price, de- 
duction being made of fiscal and other duties to which they 
were then subject, under whatever denomination they may 
have existed. 

7. All persons who may sell or purchase the articles of 
merchandise included in article i above the maximum of the 
price settled and posted in each department shall pay by way 
of the municipal police a fine, for which they shall be jointly 
and severally liable, of double the value of the article sold and 
payable to the informer : they shall be enrolled upon the list 
of suspected persons and treated as such. The purchaser shall 
not be subject to the penalties provided above, if he denounces 
the offence of the seller ; and each merchant shall be required 
to have a list displayed in his shop, bearing the maximum or 
highest price of his merchandise. 



Revolutionary Government Decree 189 

8. The maximum or highest price belonging to salaries, 
wages, and manual labor by the day in each place, shall be 
fixed, to commence from the publication of this law until the 
month of September next, by the general councils of the com- 
munes at the same amount as in 1790, to which there shall be 
added half of that price in addition. 

9. The m.unicipalities shall put into requisition and punish, 
according to circumstances, with three days' imprisonment the 
workingmen, factory operatives and various laboring persons 
who may refuse v/ithout legitimate reasons to engage in their 
accustomed labors. 

17. During the war all exportation of articles of merchan- 
dise cr commodities of prime necessity, under any name or 
commission whatsoever, is prohibited upon all the frontiers, 
salt excepted. 



43. Decree upon the Revolutionary Govern- 
ment. 



October 10, 1793 (19 Vendemiaire, Year II). Duvergier, Lois, 
VI, 219-220. 

This decree was adopted by the Convention at the time when it 
decided, on account of the critical condition of the country, not to 
put the constitution of the Year I into operation immediately. 
As a sort of provisional constitution it served as the basis of gov- 
ernment until replaced by the great decree of 14 Frimaire (De- 
cember 4, 1793K See No. 4.5. The meaning of the term revolu- 
tionary government can be deduced from the character of the ar- 
rangements here provided and should be carefully noted. 

References. Stephens, French Revolution, II, 280-281 ; La- 
visse and Rambaud, Histoire genercle, VIII, 196-197 ; Aulard, 
Revolution frangaise, 314-315, 366-368. 

Of the Government. 

1. The provisional government of France is revolutionary 
until the peace. 

2. The provisional executive council, the ministers, the 
generals, and the constituted bodies are placed under the sur- 
veillance of the committee of public safety, which shall render 
account of them to the Convention everj' eight days. 

3. Every measure of security must be taken by the pro- 



"S, 



190 Revolutionary Government Decree 

visional executive council, under the authorisation of the com- 
mittee, which shall render an account thereof to the Conven- 
tion. 

4. The revolutionary laws must be executed rapidly. The 
government shall correspond immediately with the districts up- 
on the measures of public safety. 

5. The generals-in-chief shall be appointed by the National 
Convention, upon the presentation of the Committee of Public 
Safety. 

6. The inertia of the government being the cause of the 
reverses, the limits for the execution of the decrees and meas- 
ures oif public safety are fixed. Violation of these limits shall 
be punished as an attack upon liberty. 

Subsistences. 

7. The table of the production of grain for each district, 
made by the Committee of Public Safety, shall be printed and 
distributed to all the mem.bers of the Convention, in order to 
be put into operation without delay. 

8. The needs of each department shall be estimated by ap- 
proximation and secured. The surplus shall be subject to the 
requisitions. 

9. The table of the productions of the Republic shall be 
addressed to the representatives of the people, the ministers of 
•the navy and the interior, and the administrators of subsis- 
tences. They must make requisitions in the districts which 
shall have been assigned to them. Paris shall be a special dis- 
trict. 

10. The requisitions in behalf of the unfruitful depart- 
ments shall be authorised and regulated by the provisional ex- 
ecutive council. 

11. Paris shall be supplied with provisions on March ist 
for one year. 

General Security. 

12. The direction and employment of the revolutionary 
army shall be constantly regulated in a way to put down the 
counter-revolutionaries. 

The Committee of Public Safety shall present a plan for 
this purpose. 

13. The council shall send garrisons into the cities where 



Republican Calendar Decree 191 

counter-revolutionary movements shall arise. The garrisons 
shall be paid and supported by the rich of these cities until the 
peace. 

Finances. 

14. There shall be created a tribunal and a jury of ac- 
counts. This tribunal and this jury shall be appointed by the 
National Convention ; they shall be charged to proceed against 
all those who have managed the public funds since the revolu- 
tion and to demand of them an account of their fortunes. 

The organization of this tribunal is recommitted to the 
committee of legislation. 



44. Decree for the Republican Calendar. 

November 24, 1793 (4 Frimaire, Year II). Duvergier, Lois, VI, 
294-301. 

This is the first of two decrees by which the republican cal- 
endar displaced the Gregorian calendar. The later decree provid- 
ed additional details, but did not essentially modify the scheme here 
presented. Until about 1801 the new calendar was used to the 
entire exclusion of the old ; then for a time the two were used 
together. The republican calendar was not altogether abandoned 
until January 1, 1806. Both the general scheme of the calendar 
and the reasons given for its adoption should be noticed. 

References. Stephens, Yale Review. lY, 326-330; Cambridge 
Modern History, VIII, 358 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire gene- 
rale, VIII, 193-194 ; Jaurfrs, Histoire socialiste, IV, 1685-1690 ; 
Stephens, French Revolution, II, 561, has a concordance of the 
two calendars to the end of the year VIII. 

1. The era of the French counts from the foundation of the 
Republic, which occurred September 22, 1792, of the common 
era, the day when the sun arrived at the true equinox of au- 
tumn, in entering into the sign of Libra, at nine o'clock, eight- 
een minutes, thirty seconds, A. M., for the observatory of 
Paris. 

2. The common era is abolished for civil uses. 

3. Each year commences at midnight with the day on 
which the true equinox of autumn falls for the observatory of 
Paris, 

4. The first year of the Republic commenced at midnight 
September 22, 1792, and ended at midnight, separating the 2isit 
from the 22d of September, 1793. 

5. The second year commenced September 22d, 1793, at 



192 Republican Calendar Decree 

midnight, the true equinox of autumn being reached that daj' 
for the observatory of Paris at three o'clock, eleven minutes, 
thirty-eight seconds, P. M. 

6. The decree which fixed the commencement of the second 
year of the Republic at January, i, 1793, is repealed; all docu- 
ments dated the second year of the Republic, passed within 
the current ist of January to September 21st inclusive, are re- 
garded as belonging to the first year of the Republic. 

7. The year is divided into twelve equal months of thirty 
days each ; after the twelve months follow five days in order to 
complete the ordinary year; these five days do not belong to 
any month. 

8. Each month is divided into three equal parts of ten days 
each, which are called decades. 

9. The names of the days of the decade are : primidi, duodi, 
tridi, quatridi, quintidi, sextidi, septidi, octidi, nonidi, decadi. 

The names of the months are, for the autumn, Vendemi- 
aire, Brumav'e, Frimaire; for the winter, Nivose, Pluviose, 
Ventose; for the spring, Germinal, Floreal, Prairial; for the 
summer, Messidor, Thermidor, Fructidor. 

The last five days lare called the San-Ciilottides. 

10. The ordinary year receives one day more, according as 
the position of the equinox -requires it, in order to maintain 
the coincidence of the civil year with the celestial movements. 
This day, called Day of the Revolution, is placed at the end of 
the year, and forms the sixth of the Sans-Culottides. 

The period of four years, at the end of which this addition 
of a day is ordinarily necessary, is called the Franciade, in 
memory of the revolution, which, after four years of effort, 
has brought France to a republican government. 

The fourth year of the Franciade is called Sextile. 

11. The day from midnight to midnight is divided into ten 
parts or hours, each part into ten others, and so on to the 
smallest commensurable portion of its duration. The hun- 
dredth part of the hour is called decimal minute; the hun- 
dredth part of a minute is called second decimal. This article 
shall be in force for public documents only to count from I 
Vendemiaire, Year HI of the Republic. 

12. The committee of public instruction is charged ta 
cause the new calendar to be printed in different forms, with 



Republican Calendar Decree 193 

simple instructions in order to explain the principles and us- 
age of it. 

13. The calendar, as well as the instruction, shall be sent 
to the administrative bodies,, the municipalities, the tribunals, 
the justices of the peace and all public officers, the armies, the 
popular societies and all colleges and schools. The provis- 
ional executive council shall cause it to be transmitted to the 
ministers, consuls, and other agents of B'rance in foreign coun- 
tries. 

14. All public acts shall be dated according to the new or- 
ganization of the year. 

15. The professors, schoolmasters and schoolmistresses, 
fathers and mothers of families, and all those who direct the 
education of children shall be diligent in explaining to them 
the new calendar, in conformity with the instructions which 
are herewith annexed. 

16. Every four years, or every Francaide, upon the Day of 
the Revolnlioii, republican games shall be celebrated, in mem- 
ory of the French revolution. 

Instructions upon the era of the Republic and upon the 
division of the year, decreed by the National Convention, in 
order to be put at the end of the decree: 

First Part. 

Of the motives which have determined the decree. 

The French nation, oppressed and debased during a great 
many centuries by the most insolent despotism, has finally risen 
to a perception of its rights and the power to which its desti- 
nies call it. Each day for five years of a revolution, of which 
the annals of the world do not afford a parallel, it has been 
purging itself of all that defiles it or impedes its progress, 
which must be as majestic as rapid, It wishes that its regen- 
eration should be complete, in order that its years of liberty 
and glory m.ay be distinguished even more by their duration in 
the history of peoples than its years of slavery and humiliation 
in the history of kings. 

Soon the arts are going to be called to new progress by the 
uniformity of weights and measures, whose exclusive and in- 
variable standard, taken in the measure even of the earth, will 
cause the disappearance of the diversity, incoherence, and in- 



194 Government of the Terror 

exactitude which have existed up to the present in that part of 
the national industry. 

The arts and history, for which time is a necessary element, 
were also demanding a new measure of duration disengaged 
from all the errors which credulity and a superstitious routine 
have handed down to us from the centuries of ignorance. 

It is this new standard which the National Convention to- 
day presents to the French people ; it ought to show at the 
same time both the impress of the intelligence of the nation 
and the character of our revolution by its exactitude, its 
simplicity, and its disengagement from every opinion which 
may not be approved by reason and philosophy. 

. . . [The remainder of the instruction explains in the 
same vein the details of the calendar.] 

45. Organic Decree, upon the Government of 
the Terror. 

December 4, 175)3 (14 Frimaire, Year II). Duvergier, Lois, VI, 
317-322. 

This document may be called the constitution of the reign of 
terror. It co-ordinated and amended a large number of earlier 
decrees, by which the leading institutions of the revolutionary 
government had been created or regulated, e.g., Nos. 33, 37, 43. 
A careful study of the document will bring out how the govern- 
ment was carried on by the Convention and the great Committeo 
of Public Safety and its agents. The manner in which the elected 
local authorities were divested of all power and replaced by agent.s 
of the Committee of Public Safety calls for particular notice. 

References. Stephens, French Revolution, II, 316-318 ; Cam 
hridffe Modern Historij, VI II. 359-300: Lavisse and Rambaud, Bis- 
toire generale, VIII, 197-199 ; Aulard, Revolution francaise, 355- 
357. 

Section I. Dispatch and promulgation of the laws. 

I. The laws which concern the public interest or which 
are of general operation shall be printed separately in a num- 
bered bulletin, which shall serve henceforth for their notifica- 
tion to the constituted authorities. This bulletin shall bear the 
title : Bulletin of the Latvs of the Republic. 

. . . [The omitted articles relate to the preparation of 
the bulletin.] 

8. This bulletin shall be addressed directly day by day to 
all the constituted authorities and to all the public authorities 
charged either with supervising the execution or causing the 
application of the laws. This bulletin shall be distributed to 
the members of the Convention. 



Government of the Terror igS 

9. At each place the promulgation of the law shall be made, 
within twenty-four hours after its receipt, by a publication at 
the sound of the trumpet or the drum ; and the law shall be- 
come binding counting from the day of promulgation. 

10. Independently of this proclamation in each commune 
of the Republic, the laws shall be read tO the citizens in a 
public place each decadi by the mayor, a municipal officer, or 
the president of the section. 

Section II. Execution of the laws. 

1. The National Convention is the sole centre of impulsion 
of the government. 

2. All the constituted bodies and the public functionaries 
are put under the immediate supervision of the Committee of 
Public Safety for the measures of government and of public 
safety, in conformity with the decree of the 19 Vendemiaire; 
and for all that relates to persons and to the general and in- 
ternal police, this special supervision belongs to the Commit- 
tee of General Security of the Convention, in conformity with 
the decree of September 17th, last: these two committees are 
required to render account of the results of their labors at 
the end of each month to the National Convention. Each 
member of these two committees is personally responsible 
for the fulfillment of this requirement. 

3. The execution of the laws is divided into surveillance 
and application. 

4. The active surveillance relative to the military laws 
and measures and to the administrative laws, civil and crimi- 
nal, is 'delegated to the executive council, which shall render 
an account thereof in writing every ten days to th,e Committee 
of Pctblic Safety, in order to inform it of delays and negli- 
gencies in the execution of the civil and criminal laws, acts of 
government and military and administrative measures, as well 
as the violations of these laws and measures, and the agents 
who make themselves guilty of these negligences and infrac- 
tions. 

5. Each minister, moreover, is required to personally ren- 
der, every ten days, a detailed and summarized account of the 
operations of his department to the Committee of Public Safety, 
and to denounce all the agents that it employs who may not 
have discharged their duties exactly. 



196 Government of the Terror 

6. The surveillance of the execution of the revolutionary 
laws and the measures of government, of general security and 
public safety within the departments, is assigned exclusively 
to the districts, with the requirement to render exact account 
thereof every ten days to the Committee of Public Safety for 
the measures of government and of public safety, and to^ the 
committee of surveillance of the Convention for that which 
concerns the general and internal police as well as individuals. 

7. The application of the military measures belongs to the 
generals and other agents attached to the service of the ar- 
mies ; the application of the military laws belongs to the mili- 
tary tribunals ; that of the laws relative to the taxes , manu- 
factures, highways, public canals, and surveillance over the 
national domains, belongs to the department administrations ; 
that of the civil and criminal laws to the tribunals, with the 
express requirement of rendering account thereof every ten 
days to the executive council. 

8. The application of the revolutionary laws and the meas- 
ures of general security and public safety is confided to the 
municipalities and the surveillance or revolutionary commit- 
tees, with the like requirement of rendering account every ten 
days of the execution of these laws in the territory of their dis- 
trict, as required of their immediate surveillance. 

9. Nevertheless, in order that at Paris the action of the 
police may encounter no impediment, the revolutionary com- 
mittees shall continue to correspond directly and without any 
intermediary with the Committee of General Security of the 
Convention, in conformity with the decree of September 17th 
last. 

10. All the constituted bodies shall send also, at th^ end 
of each month, the outline of their -deliberations and of their 
correspondence to the authority which is especially charged 
by this decree with their immediate supervision. 

11. Every authority and every public functionary is ex- 
pressly forbidden to issue proclamations or to promulgate ex- 
tensive orders in limitation of or contrary to the literal sense 
of the law, under pretext of interpretation or supplementing it. 

The right to give the interpretation of decrees belongs 
to the Convention alone, and it alone can be looked to for 
that purpose. 



Government o£ the Terror 197 

12. The intermediate authorities charged with surveillance 
over the execution and application of the laws are likewise foi- 
bidden to pronounce any decision and to order the release of 
citizens under arrest. This right belongs exclusively to the 
National Convention, the committees of public safety and of 
general security, the representatives of the people in the de- 
partments and with the armies, and the tribunals in making' 
application of the criminal and police laws. 

13. All the constituted authorities shall be sedentary and 
they can deliberate only in the usual place for their sittings, 
except in cases of superior force, with the sole exceptions of 
the justices of the peace and their assessors, and the criminal 
tribunals of the departments, in conformity with the laws 
w'hich sanction their moving about. 

14. In the place of the district procureurs-syndics, the com- 
mune procureurs and their substitutes, who are abolished by 
this decree, there shall be national agents especially charged 
v>^ith requiring and seeking to obtain the execution of the 
laws, as well as to denounce the negligences that occur in this 
execution and the infractions which may be committed. These 
national agents are authorised to leave their stations and to 
move about the circuit of their districts in order to be on the 
lookout and to satisfy themselves more thoroughly that the 
laws are exactly executed. 

15. The functions of the national agents shall be per- 
formed by the citizens who now occupy the places of district 
procureurs-syndics, procureurs of the communes and their sub- 
stitutes, with the exception of those who have given occasion 
for their removal. 

16. The national agents attached to the districts, as well 
as every other public functionary personally, charged by this 
decree either to require the execution of the law or to super- 
vise it more particularly, are required to maintain an accurate 
correspondence with the committees of public safety a.nd of 
general security. These national agents shall write to the two 
committees every ten days, according to the requirements es- 
tablished by article 10 of this section, in order to attest the dili- 
gence displayed in the execution of each law and to give in- 
formation of delays and of negligent and double-dealing public 
functionaries. 



igS Government of the Terror 

17. The national agents attached to the communes are re- 
quired to render the same account for the district of their 
jurisdiction, and the presidents of the surveillance and revo- 
lutionary committees shall carry on the same correspondence, 
as well with the Committee of General Security as with the 
district charged v/itii surveillance over them. 

18. The committees of public safety and of general secur- 
ity are required to denounce to the Convention the national 
agents and every other public functionary personally charged 
with the supervision of the application of the laws in order to 
cause them to be punished in conformity with the provisions 
set forth in the present decree. 

19. The number of the national agents, whether in the dis- 
tricts or in the communes, shall be equal to that of the dis- 
trict procureurs-syndics and their substitutes and the com- 
mune procureurs and their substitutes actually on duty. 

20. After the process of sifting out the citizens 
summoned by this decree to discharge the functions of nation- 
al agents for the districts, each of these [districts] shall cause 
to be transmitted to the National Convention, within twenty- 
four hours after the process the names of those who shall 
have been retained or appointed in that place ; and the list 
shall be read at the tribune, in order that the members of the 
Convention may explain about those they are able to recognize. 

21. The replacing of the national agents for the districts 
who shall be rejected shall be made provisionally by the Na- 
tional Convention. 

22. After the same sifting-out process shall have been ef- 
fected in the communes, they shall send, within the same per- 
iod, a similar list to the district which has jurisdiction, in or- 
der to be pubhcly proclaimed there. 

Section III. Competence of the constituted authorities. 

1. The Committee of Public Safety is especially charged 
with the conduct of the chief transactions in diplomacy and 
it shall deal directly with what springs from these same 
transactions. 

2. The representatives of the people shall correspond every 
ten days with the Committee of Public Safety. They can sus- 
pend and replace the generals only provisionally, with the re- 



Government of the Terror 199 

quirement of informing the Committee of Public Safety of it 
within tv/enty-four hours ; they cannot counteract nor arrest 
the execution of the orders and measures of government taken 
by the Committee of Public Safety ; they shall conform them- 
selves in all their missions to the provisions of the decree of 
6 Frimaire. 

3. The functions of the executive council shall be de- 
termined according to the principles established in the present 
decree. 

4. The Convention reserves for itself the appointment of the 
generals-in-chief of the land and naval forces. As to the other 
general officers, the ministers of war and of the navy cannot 
make any promotion without having presented the list or the 
appointment, with a statement of reasons, to the Committee of 
Public Safety, in order to be accepted or rejected by it. These 
two ministers, likewise, cannot remove any of the military 
agents appointed provisionally by the representatives of the 
people sent to the armies, unless the proposal has been made 
in writing, with a statement of reasons, to the Committee of 
Public Safety and the committee has accepted it. 

5. The department administrations remain especially charged 
w-ith the apportionment of the taxes among the districts, the 
establishment of manufactures, of highways and public canals, 
and surveillance over the national domains. All that relates 
to the revolutionary laws and to the measures of government 
and of public safety is no longer within their Jurisdiction. In 
consequence, the hierarchy which placed the districts, the mu- 
nicipalities, or any other authority, under the dependence of 
the departments is suppressed for what concerns the revolu- 
tionary and military laws, and the measures of government, of 
public safety, and of general security. 

6. The general councils, the presidents, and the procureur- 
syndics-general are likewise abolished. The duties of the presi- 
dent shall be discharged by the members of the directory in 
turn and cannot continue more than one month. The president 
shall be charged with the correspondence and requisition and 
special surveillance in the portion of the execution confided to 
the department directories. 

7. The presidents and secretaries of the revolutionary and 
surveillance committees, likewise, shall be renewed every fifteen 



20O Government of the Terror 

days, and can be re-elected only after an interval of one month. 

8. No citizen already employed in the service of the Re- 
public can exercise or assist in the exercise of an authority 
charged vi^ith the direct or indirect surveillance of his func- 
tions. 

g. Those who unite or assist in the cumulative exercise 
of similar authorities are required to make their choice within 
twenty-four hours after the publication of this decree. 

10. All the changes ordered by the present decree shall be 
put in execution within three days, counting from the publica- 
tion of this decree. 

11. The rules of the formerly established order in which 
nothing has been changed by this decree shall be. followed un- 
til it has been otherwise ordered. However, the functions of 
the district of Paris are assigned to the department, as having 
become incompatible by this new organization with the oper- 
ations of the municipality. 

12. The power to send agents belongs exclusively to the 
Committee of Public Safety, the representatives of the people, 
the executive council, and the commission of subsistences. The 
object of their mission shall be expressed in precise terms in 
their commission. 

These missions shall be confided strictly to effecting the 
execution of the revolutionary and general safety measures, 
and the requisitions and orders issued by those who shall 
have appointed them. 

None of these commissioners can set aside the limitations 
of his commission ; and in no case is the delegation of powers 
permitted. 

13. The members of the executive council are required 
to present to the Committee of Public Safety for its verification 
and acceptance the list of the agents whom they are about to 
send into the departments, to the armies, and abroad, and to 
accompany it with a statement of the reasons. 

14. The agents of the executive council and of the com- 
mission of subsistences are required to render exact account of 
their operations to the representatives of the people who are 
present in the same place. The powers of the agents ap- 
pointed by the representatives Vv^ith the armies and in the de- 
partments shall expire when the mission of the representa- 



Government of the Terror 201 

lives shall be terminated or they shall have been recalled by 
decree. 

15. Every constituted authority, every public functionary, 
and every agent employed in the service of the Republic, is 
expressly forbidden to extend the exercise of his functions be- 
yond the territory which is assigned to him, to perform acts 
which are not within his competency, to encroach upon other 
authorities, to exceed the functions delegated to him, or tO' ar- 
rogate to himself those which are not confided to him. 

16. Every constituted authority is also expressly forbid- 
den to alter the essence of its organization by unions with other 
authorities, by delegates charged to form separate assemblies, 
or by commissioners sent to other constituted authorities. All 
relations between public functionaries can take place only in 
writing. 

17. All congresses or central unions established either by 
the representatives of the people or by the popular societies, 
whatever the denomination they may bear, even that of central 
committee of surveillance or of central revolutionary or mili- 
tary commission, are revoked and expressly forbidden by this 
decree, as subversive of the unity of action of the govern- 
ment and as tending to federalism; and those in existence shall 
dissolve themselves within twenty-four hours, counting from 
the publication of the present decree. 

18. Every revolutionary army other than that established 
by the Convention and common to the whole Republic is dis- 
banded by the present decree; and all citizens incorporated in 
similar military institutions are enjoined to separate within 
twenty-four hours, counting from the publication of the present 
decree, under penalty of being regarded by the law as rebels 
and treated as such. 

19. Every armed force, whatever its institution or its de- 
nomination, and every leader of one is expressly forbidden to 
perform acts which belong exclusively to the constituted civil 
authorities, even domiciliary visits, without a written order is- 
sued by these authorities, which order shall be executed in the 
forms prescribed by the decrees. 

20. No armed force, tax, forced or voluntary loan can be 
levied except in virtue of a decree. The revolutionary taxes 
of the representatives of the people shall be put into operation 



202 Government of the Terror 

only after having been approved by the Convention, except 
they be in enemy or rebel country. 

21. Every constituted authority is forbidden to -dispose of 
the public funds, or to change the destination of them, without 
being authorised to do so by the Convention or by an express 
requisition of the representatives of the people, under penalty 
of being personally responsible for them. 

Section IV. Reorganization and purification of the con- 
stituted authorities. 

1. The Committee of Public Safety is authorised to take all 
the necessary measures in order to proceed to the change of 
organization of the constituted authorities provided in the 
present decree. 

2. The representatives of the people are charged to secure 
and accelerate the execution of them ; also to accomplish with- 
out delay the complete purification of all the constituted author- 
ities and to render a special account of these two operations 
to the National Convention before the end of the next month. 

Section V. Of the penal law for public functionaries and 
other agents of the Republic. 

1. Members of the executive council guilty of negligence 
in the surveillance and execution of the laws for the part 
which is assigned to them, as well individually as collectively, 
shall be punished by deprivation of citizenship for six years 
and the confiscation of half of the goods of the condemned. 

2. Public functionaries on salary and charged personally 
by this decree to require and to follow up the execution of 
the laws, or to make the application of them, and to denounce 
negligences, infractions, functionaries, and other guilty agents, 
placed under their surveillance, and who shall not have rigor- 
orously fulfilled these duties, shall be deprived of citizenship 
for five years, and condemned for the same time to the con- 
fiscation of one-third of their incomes. 

3. The penalty for public functionaries not on salary, per- 
sonally charged with the same duties and guilty of the same 
offences, shall be deprivation of citizenship for four years. 

4. The penalty inflicted upon the members of the judicial, 
administrative, municipal, and revolutionary bodies, guilty of 
negligence in the surveillance or the application of the laws. 



Government of the Terror 203 

shall be, for the salaried functionaries, deprivation of citij^en- 
ship for four years and a fine equal to one-fourth of the an- 
nual income of each condemned person, and for those who do 
not receive any salary, exclusion from the exercise of the 
rights of citizenship for three years. 

5. The general officers and all agents attached to the dif- 
ferent services of the army who are guilty of negligence in the 
surveillance, execution, and application of the operations which 
are entrusted to them, shall be punished with deprivation of 
the rights of citizenship for eight years and the confiscation of 
half of their goods. 

6. The commissioners and special agents appointed by the 
committees of public safety and of general security, the rep- 
resentatives of the people with the armies and in the depart- 
ments, the executive council and commission of subsistences, 
who are guilty of having exceeded the limits of their commis- 
sion, or of having neglected to execute it, or of not submit- 
ting to the provisions of the present decree, and especially to 
article 13 of section II in that which afifects them, shall be 
punished by five years in prison. 

7. The minor agents of the government, even those who 
have no public character, such as the heads of bureaus, secre- 
taries, clerks of the Convention, the executive council, the dif- 
ferent public administrations, every constituted authority, or 
any public functionary who has employes, shall be punished 
by suspension of citizenship for three years and by a fine of 
one-third of the income of the condemned person for the same 
space of time, for personal cause of all negligences, voluntary 
delays, or infractions committed in the execution of the laws, 
orders and measures of government, public safety and admin- 
istration with which they can be entrusted. 

8. Every infraction of the law, every betrayal of trust, 
every abuse of authority, committed by a public functionary or 
by any other principal or minor agent of the government and 
of the civil and military administration who receives a salary, 
shall be punished by five years in prison and the confiscation 
of one-half of the goods of the condemned person ; and for 
those not salaried and guilty of the same offences, the penalty 
shall be deprivation of citizenship for six years and the con- 
fiscation of one-fourth of their incomes for the same time. 



204 Decree upon Slavery 

g. Every counterfeiter of the Bulletin of the Laws shall 
be punished by death. 

10. The penalties inflicted for delays and negligences in 
the dispatch, sending, and reception of the Bulletin of the 
Laws are, for the members of the commission for the dispatch 
of the laws and for the letter-post agents, condemnation to five 
years in prison, except in the case where the use of violence 
is legally proven. 

11. Public functionaries or any other agents subject to a 
joint responsibility, and who shall have notified the Convention 
of the lack of exact surveillance or of the non-execution of a 
law, within the space of fifteen days, shall be excepted from 
the penalties pronounced by this decree. 

12. The confiscations ordered by the preceding articles 
shall be turned into the public treasury, after the indemnity 
due to a citizen injured by the non-execution or violation of 
a law has been deducted. 



46, Decree upon Slavery. 

February 4, 1794 (16 Pluviose, Year II). Duvergier, Lois, VIJ, 
30. 

Of recent years historians have come to see that the work of 
the assemblies, of the. revolution was much less the result of at- 
tachment to abstract principles than was formerly supposed. fJev- 
ertheless, much of their legislation was prompted by what is 
vaguely called the revolutionary spirit. A prominent feature of 
that spirit was its passionate enthusiasm for the extension of 
human liberty. This decree is typical of many passed by the Con- 
vention at tlie prompting of that enthusiasm. Its immediate ef- 
fects were unquestionably disastrous. 

Refeeences. Stephens, French Revolution, II, 468-471 ; Cam- 
iridpe Modern History, VIIT, 727-729, 790. 

Tbe National Convention declares that negro slavery in 
all the colonies is abolished; in consequence, it decrees that 
all men, without distinction of color, who are domiciled in 
the colonies are French citizens and shall enjoy all the rights 
guaranteed by the constitution. 

It sends again to the Committee of Public Safety to pre- 
pare for it immediately a report upon the measures to be taken 
in order to assure the execution of the present decree. 



Decree upon Assignats 205 



47. Decree upon Assignats. 

May 10, 1794 (21 Floreal, Year II). Duvergier, Lois, VII, 162. 

This is a sort of organic law upon assignats co-ordinating and 
amending much earlier legislation on the subject. From it can 
be made up a tolerably complete list of the actions in relation to 
assignats which were regarded as crimes. The penalties, for which 
it refers to previous decrees, were exceptionally severe. In many 
cases the penalty was death. 

Reference. Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire generate, VIII, 
631-632, for some data in concise form upon the amount or assig- 
nats issued and their value at different dates. 

I. The provisions of the decrees of 7 and 30 Frimaire and 
14 Germinal relative to those accused of embezzlement of na- 
tional lands, of engaging, manufacturing, distributing, or in- 
troducing false assignats or false money, shall likewise 
regulate the method of procedure against persons accused of 
having sold or purchased coin; of having agreed upon or 
proposed different prices according to payment in coin or in 
assignats; of having refused assignats in payment; of having 
given or received them at any loss whatever, or of having 
demanded, before concluding or even entering upon a bargain, 
in what money the payments shall be effected. 

5. The above provisions shall be observed even with re- 
gard to those accused of offences previous to the publication 
of the present decree, who shall not yet have been definitely 
tried. 

6. Articles 2 and 3 of the decree of April 11, 1793, shall 
continue to be executed against those who shall be convicted 
of having sold or purchased coin, or having given or sold 
assignats at any loss whatever, of having agreed upon or pro- 
posed different prices according to payment of coin or assig- 
nats, of having demanded, before concluding or even entering 
upon a bargain, in what money the payment may be effected. 

7. The penalty provided by the decree of August i, 1793, 
shall continue restricted to those who refuse assignats in pay- 
ment ; and nobody within the extent of the territory of the 
Republic can shelter himself in this imder the allegation that 
he is not a Frenchman. 

8. Every discourse tending to discredit the assignats shall 
likewise be punished in the same way. 



2o6 Treaties with Prussia 

9. In conformity with article 4 of the decree of September 
5) 1793! there shall be occasion for the death penalty and for 
confiscation of goods, wherever the offences mentioned in the 
three preceding articles shall have been committed with the 
intention of assisting the undertakings of the internal or ex- 
ternal enemies of the Republic. 



48. Treaties with Prussia. 



Through the first of these agreements Prussia withdrew from 
the coalition against Prance. Document B is the complement of 
document A. Particular attention should be given to the arrange- 
ments in regard to the territory upon the left bank of the Rhine, 
the compensation for the dispossessed princes and the neutrality 
line in Germany. 

References. Gardiner, French Revolution. 238-241 ; Fyfife, 
Modern Europe, I, 95-98 (Popular ed., 64-66) ; "Von Sybel, French 
Revolution, IV, Book XI, Ch. Ill ; Cambridge Modern History, 
VIII, il41-442 ; I.avisse and Rr.mbtmd. Histnlrc generate VIII. 301- 
305 ; Sorel, L'Europe et la revolution frangaise, IV, 281-292 ; 
Jaures, Histoire socialiste, V, 115-119, 377-378. 

Maps. Droysen, Historischer Hand-Atlas, 48 ; Lane-Poole, His- 
torical Atlas of Modem Europe, XI-XII ; Vidal-Lablache, Atlas 
general, 40. 

A. Treaty of Basle. April 5, 1795 (16 Germinal, Year 
III). De Clercq, Traites, I, 232-236. 

The French Republic and His Majesty, the King of Prus- 
sia, equally prompted by the desire to put an end to the war 
which divides them, by a firm peace between the two nations, 

1. There shall be peace, amity and good understanding" 
between the French Republic and the King of Prussia, con- 
sidered as such and in the capacity of Elector of Brandenburg 
and of co-state of the Germanic Empire. 

2. Accordingly, all hostilities between the two contract- 
ing powers shall cease, dating from the ratification of the 
present treaty ; and neither of them, dating from the same 
time, shall furnish against the other, in any capacity or by 
any title whatsoever, any assistance or contingent, whether in 
men, in horses, provisions, mone)^ munitions of war, or other- 
wise. 



Treaties with Prussia 207 

3. Neither of the contracting powers shall grant passage 
over its territory to troops of the enemies of the other. 

4. The troops of the French Republic shall evacuate, 
within the fifteen days which follow the ratification of the 
present treaty, the parts of the Prussian states which they 
may occupy upon the right bank of the Rhine. 

5. The troops of the French RepubHc shall continue to 
occupy the part of the states of the King of Prussia situated 
upon the left bank of the Rhine. All definitive arrangement 
with respect to these provinces shall be put off until the gen- 
eral pacification between France and the German Empire. 

II. The French Republic shall accept the good offices of 
His Majesty the King of Prussia in favor of the princes and 
states of the Germanic Empire who shall desire to enter 
directly into negotiation with it, and who, for that purpose, 
have already requested or shall yet request the intervention 
of the king. The French Republic, in . order to give to the 
King of Prussia a signal proof of its desire to co-operate for 
the re-establishment of the former bonds of amity which have 
existed between the two countries, consents not to treat as 
hostile countries, during the space of three months after the 
ratification of the present treaty, those of the princes and 
states of the said empire situated upon the right bank of the 
Rhine and in favor of whom the king shall interest himself. 

Separate and Secret Articles. 

2, If, at the general pacification between the Germanic 
Empire and France, the left bank of the Rhine remains with 
France, His Majesty, the King of Prussia, will come to an 
agreement with the French Republic upon the method of the 
cession of the Prussian States situated upon the left bank 
of this river, in exchange for such territorial indemnification 
as shall be agreed upon. In this case the king shall accept the 
guarantee which the Republic offers him for this indemnifica- 
tion. 

3. In order to remove the theatre of war from the fron- 
tiers of the states of the King of Prussia, to preserve the tran- 
quility of the north of Germany, and to establish entire free- 
dom of commerce between that part of the Empire and France 



2o8 Treaties with Prussia 

as before the war, the French Republic consents not to extend 
the operations of war, nor to cause its troops to enter, either 
by land or sea, into the countries and states situated beyond 
the following line of demarcation : 

[The omitted passage relates exclusively to the 
demarcation line. One portion of it, running south from near 
the mouth of the Ems river to the Rhine and along that 
stream to about the point where the Neckar joins it, separa- 
ted that part of Germany which had fallen under French 
domination during the war from the unaffected region further 
east. Another portion was so drawn that northern and 
southefn Germany were separated by a line running from 
about the junction of the Neckar and the Rhine eastwardly to 
the southeast corner of Prussian Silesia.] 

The French Republic will regard as neutral countries and 
states all those which are situated beyond this line, on con- 
dition that His Majesty, the King of Prussia, undertakes to 
cause them to observe a strict .neutrality, of which the first 
point shall be to recall their contingents and not to contract 
any new engagements which can authorise them to furnish 
troops to the powers at war with France. The king charges 
himself with the guarantee that no troops hostile to France 
shall pass this line, nor set out from the countries which are 
here included, in order to fight French armies ; and for 
this purpose the two contracting powers, after having planned 
together, shall agree upon the essential points for sufficient 
corps of observation to cause this neutrality to be respected. 

B. Secret Convention. August 5, 1796 (18 Thermidor, 
Year TV). De Clercq, Traitcs, I, 2S1-283. 

The French Republic and His Majesty the King of Prussia 
prompted by an equal desire to see the baneful war which' 
afiflicts Europe cease shortly, and flattering themselves that 
the accomplishment of this salutary desire cannot be far dis- 
tant, have believed that they ought in advance to enter into 
amicable communications upon several matters relative to 
this pacification, which they hope is approaching. 

I. The intention of the two contracting powers being, 
first of all, to agree upon a territorial indemnification for the 



Treaty of the Hague 209 

loss of the Prussian provinces upon the left bank of the 
Rhine, in case the said bank shall be ceded to France at the 
time of the peace with the Empire, . . . His Prus- 
sian Majesty, in order to give to the French Republic a proof 
of his feelings of amity, declares that when the question of 
the cession of the left bank of the Rhine to France shall arise, 
he will not oppose it; and, as in that case, in order to indem- 
nify the secular princes who will lose by that arrangement, 
the principle of secularizations becomes absolutely indispen- 
sable, His Majesty consents to accept the said principle and 
he shall receive as indemnity for the said Trans-Rhenish 
provinces, including the enclave of Sevenaer, which in this 
case will be ceded to France, the remainder of the bishopric of 
Munster, with the county of Recklinghausen, making deduc- 
tion of the part mentioned above and on condition of their 
prior secularization; His Majesty still reserving to himself 
to add to these what may be suitable to complete his idem- 
nification, upon which matter the two powers shall come to an 
agreement. 



49. Treaty of the Hague. 

May 16, 1795 (27 Floreal, Year III). De Clercq, Traites, 1, 
236-242. 

This treaty illustrates the relationship between France and 
count i-ies such as Holland which it revolutionized but did not 
annex. 

Refekences. Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire gen^rale, VIII, 
303-304 ; Jaurfes, Histoire socialiste, V, 124. 

The French Republic and the Republic of the United 
Provinces, equally animated by the desire to put an end to 
the war which had divided them, to repair the evils of it by 
a just distribution of reciprocal damages and advantages, and 
to unite themselves forever by an alliance founded upon the 
true interests of the two peoples, .... 

1. The French Republic recognizes the Republic of the 
United Provinces as a free and independent power and guar- 
antees to it its liberty, its independence, and the abolition of 
the stadtholderate decreed by the states-general and by each 
province on its own part. 

2. There shall be forever between the two republics. 



210 Treaty of the Hague 

the French and the United Provinces, peace, friendship, and 
good understanding. 

3- There shall be between the two republics, until the 
end of the war, an offensive and defensive alliance against all 
their enemies without distinction. 

4. This offensive and defensive alliance shall exist against 
England, whenever either of the two repubhcs shall be at war 
with her. 

5. Neither of the two republics shall make peace with 
England, nor treat with her, without the co-operation and con- 
sent of the other. 

6. The French Republic shall not make peace with any of 
the other coalesced powers without including the Republic 
of the United Provinces. 

7. The Republic of the United Provinces shall furnish 
for its contingent during this campaign twelve line-of-battle 
ships and eighteen frigates, to be employed principally in the 
German Ocean, the North and Baltic Seas. These forces shall 
be increased for the next campaign, if one occurs. The 
Republic of the United Provinces shall furnish besides, if 
it is requested to do so, at least half of the land forces which 
it shall have on foot. 

8. The land and sea forces of the United Provinces, 
v/hich shall be expressly intended to act with those of the 
French Republic, shall be under the orders of the French gen- 
erals. 

[Articles 11-12 provide for the transfer to 
France of Flanders, Maestrecht, Venloo, and other districts 
in the vicinity of the river Meuse. By article 16 compensation 
of an equal extent of territory is to be provided at the gen- 
eral peace "out of the country conquered and retained by 
France."] 

17. The French Republic shall continue to occupy mili- 
tarily, during the present war only, but by a number of 
troops determined and agreed upon between the two nations, 
the places and positions which it will be useful to guard for 
the defence of the country. 

20. The Republic of the United Provinces shall pay to 
the French Republic, as indemnity and damages for the ex- 



Treaty of the Hague 211 

penses of the war, one hundrtd million ftorins current money 
of Holland, either in coin or in good foreign bills of ex- 
change, in conformity with the method of payment agreed 
upon between the two republics. 

22. The Republic of the United Provinces pledges itself 
not to give asylum to any French emigre; likewise the French 
Republic will not give asylum to Orangist emigrants. 

Separate and Secret Articles. 

1. [Reduces the naval forces mentioned in number i of 
the open articles to three line-of-battle ships and four frig- 
ates.] 

2. The districts named in article 12 of the open treaty 
are reserved [by France] only in order to be united to the 
French Republic and not to other powers. 

3. A month after the exchange of the ratifications of 
the present treaty, the French army in the United Prov- 
inces shall be reduced, in execution of article 17 of the open 
treaty, to 25,000 men, who shall be paid in coin, equipped and 
clothed by the Republic of the United Provinces upon the 
footing of war, in conformity with a rule which shall be 
agreed upon between the two governments. This army shall 
be left after the peace, in whole or in part, to the Republic 
of the United Provinces as long as she shall desire and it 
shall be maintained upon the footing that shall be determined 
for that purpose. 

5. The requisitions made directly to the States-General 
by the Representatives of the People before the signing of 
the present treaty shall be fulfilled in tofo without delay. The 
repayment of this outlay taken in its totality is reduced and 
fixed at the sum of ten million florins. ... 

6. The two contracting republics mutually guarantee the 
possessions which they had before this war in the two Indies 
and upon the coasts of Africa. The harbors of the Cape 
of Good Hope, Colombo and Trincomali shall be open to 
French vessels as well as to vessels of the United Provinces 
and upon the same terms. 



212 Constitution" of the Year III 



50. Constitution of the Year III. 

August 22, 1795 (5 Fructidor, Year III). Duvergier, Lois, 
VIII, 223-242. 

This constitution was drawn up after the suppression of the 
insurrection o(. Prairial, which had demanded that the constitution 
of the Year I should be put in operation. It was referred to the 
people, but coupled with the requirement that at least two-thirds 
of the members of the Convention must be elected to the two legis- 
lative councils. This "decree of the two-thirds" led to the un- 
successful royalist insurrection of Vendemiaire. The new consti- 
tution was then put into effect (October 26, 1795). It remained 
in operation until 18 Brumaire. The general plan for the legis- 
lative and executive branches of the government calls for notice ; 
the former should be compared with those of the constitution of 
1791 and of the Year I (see Nos. 15 and 39), the latter with 
those of the same documents and of No. 45. The basis for suffrage 
and office-holding should also be compared with the earlier consti- 
tutions. 

References. Gardiner, French Revolution, 247-250 ; Mathews, 
French Revolution. 277-280; Fyffe, Modern Europe, I, 100-103 
(Popular ed., 68-69) ; Pournier, Napoleon, 54; Lanfrey, Napoleon, 
I, 48-50 ; Von Sybel, French Revolution, IV, 394-404 ; Cambridge 
Modern History, VIII, 392-397, 487-488 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, 
Histoire generate, VIII, 227-230, 374-376 ; Aulard, Revolution fran- 
Caise, Part III, Ch. I ; Jaurfes, Histoire socialiste, V, 128-134. 

Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man and Citizen. 

The French people proclaim in the presence of the Su- 
preme Being the following declaration of the rights of man 
and citizen : 

Rights. 

1. The rights of man in society are liberty, equality, se- 
curity, property. 

2. Liberty consists in the power to do that which does 
not injure the rights of others. 

3. Equality consists in this, that the law is the same for 
all, whether it protects or punishes. 

Equality does not admit of any distinction of birth, nor of 
any inheritance of authority. 

4. Security results from the co-operation of all in order 
to assure the rights of each. 

5. Property is the right to enjoy and to dispose of one's 
goods, income, and the fruit of one's labor and industry. 

6. The Law is the general will expressed by the majority 
of the citizens or their representatives. 

7. That which is not forbidden by the law cannot be pre- 
vented. 

No one can be constrained to do that which it does not 
ordain. 



Constitution of the Year III 213 

8. No one can be summoned into court, accused, arrested, 
or detained except in the cases determined by the law and 
according to the forms which it has prescribed. 

9. Those who incite, promote, sign, execute, or cause to be 
executed arbitrary acts are guihy and ought to be punished. 

10. Every severity which may not be necessary to secure 
the person of a prisoner ought to be severely repressed by the 
law. 

11. No one can be tried until after he has been heard or 
legally summoned. 

12. The law ought to decree only such penalties as are 
strictly necessary and proportionate to the offence. 

13. All treatment "which increases the penalty fixed by the 
law is a crime. 

14. No law, either civil or criminal, can have retroactive 
effect. 

15. Every man can contract his time and his services, but 
he cannot sell himself nor be sold ; his person is not an alien- 
able property. 

16. Every tax is established for the public utility; it 
ought to be apportioned among those liable for taxes, accord- 
ing to their means. 

17. Sovereignty resides essentially- in the totality of the 
citizens. 

18. No individual nor asiembly of part of the citizens can 
assume the sovereignty. 

19. No one can without legal delegation exercise any 
authority or fill any public function. 

20. Each citizen has a legal right to participate directly 
or indirectly in the formation of the law and in the selection 
of the representatives of the people and of the public func- 
tio.naries. 

21. The public offices cannot become the property of those 
who hold them. 

22. The social guarantee cannot exist if the division of 
powers is not established, if their limits are not fixed, and if 
the responsibility of the public functionaries is not assured. 

Duties. 

I. The declaration of rights contains the obligations of 



214 Constitution of the Year III 

the legislators ; the maintenance of society requires that those 
who compose it should both know and fulfill their duties. 

2. All the duties of man and citizen spring from these 
two principles graven by nature in every heart : 

Not to do to others that which you would not that they 
should do to you. 

Do continually for others the good that you would wisti 
to receive from them. 

3. The obligations of each person to society consist in 
defending it, serving it, living in submission to the laws, and 
respecting those who are the agents of them. • 

4. No one is a good citizen unless he is a good son, good 
father, good brother, good friend, good husband. 

5. No one is a virtuous man unless he is unreservedly 
and religiously an observer of the laws. 

6. The one who violates the laws openly declares himself 
in a state of war with society. 

7. The one who, withonr transgressing the laws, eludes 
them by stratagem or ingenuity wounds the interests of all ; 
he makes himself unworthy of their good will and their 
esteem. 

8. It is upon the maintenance of property that the culti- 
vation of the land, all the pioductions, all means of labor, 
and the whole social order rest. 

9. Every citizen owes his services to the fatherland and to 
the maintenance of liberty, equality, and property whenever 
the law summons him to defend them. 

Constitution. 

I. The French Republic is one and indivisible. 
■ 2. The totality of the French citizens is the sovereign. 

Title I. 

3. France is divided into — departments. 

These departments are . . . [list omitted]. 

4. The boundaries of the departments can be changed or 
rectified by the legislative body ; but in that case, the area 
of a department cannot exceed one hundred square myriame- 
ters (four hundred common square leagues). 

5. Each department is divided into cantons, each canton 
into communes. 



Constitution of the Year III 215 

The cantons preserve their present circumscriptions. 

Their boundaries, nevertheless, can be changed or recti- 
fied by the legislative body; but in that case there shall not 
be more than one myriameter (two common leagues of two 
thousand five hundred and sixty-six toises each) of the com- 
mune the most remote from the head-town of the canton. 

6. The French colonies are integral parts of the Republic 
and are subject to the same constitutional law. 

7. They are divided into departments as follows : 

The island of Saint Domingo, of which the legislative 
body shall determine the division, into four departments at 
least and into six at most; 

Guadaloupe, Marie Galante, Desirade, the Saintes, and the 
French part of Saint Martin ; 

Martinique ; 

French Guiana and Cayenne; 

Saint Lucia and Tabago. 

The Isle of France, the Seychelles, Rodriguez, the settle- 
ments of Madagascar; 

Tihe Island of Reunion ; 

The East Indies, Pondicherry, Chandernagor, Mahe, Kar- 
ikal and other settlements. 

Title II. Political Condition of the Citizens. 

8. Every man born and residing in France, fully twenty- 
one years of age, who has had himself enrolled upon the 
civic register of his canton, who has lived for a year past 
upon the soil of the Republic, and who pays a direct land or 
personal property tax, is a French citizen. 

9. P"renchmen who shall have made one or more cam- 
paigns for the establishment of the Republic are citizens, 
without condition as to tax. 

10. A foreigner becomes a French citizen when, after hav- 
ing fully reached the age of twenty-one years and having de- 
clared an intention to settle in France, he has resided here for 
seven consecutive years ; provided he pays a direct tax. and in 
addition possesses real estate or an agricultural or commercial 
establishment, or has married a French woman. 

11. Only French citizens can vote in the primary assem- 
blies and be summoned to the offices established by the con- 
stitution. 



2i6 Constitution of the Year III 

12. The exercise of the rights of citizenship is lost : 
1st. By naturalization in a foreign country; 

2d. By affiliation with any foreign corporation which may 
imply distinctions of birth or which may demand religious 
vows ; 

3d. By the acceptance of positions or pensions offered by a 
foreign government; 

4th. By condemnation to afflictive or infamous penalties 
until rehabilitation. 

13. The exercise of the rights of citizenship is suspended: 
1st. By judicial inhibition because of delirium, insanity, or 

inibecility ; 

2d. By the condition of bankruptcy or by the direct inher- 
itance by gratuitous title of the whole or of part of the suc- 
cession of a bankrupt; 

3d. By the condition of domestic service for wages either 
for a person or a household; 

4th. By the condition of accusation ; 

5th. By a judgment of contempt of court, as long as the 
judgment is not annulled. 

14. The exercise of the rights of citizenship is neither lost 
nor suspended except in the cases enumerated in the two 
preceding articles. 

15. Every citizen who shall have resided for seven con- 
secutive years outside of the territory of the Republic, without 
commission or authorisation given in the name of the Repub- 
lic, is reputed a foreigner; he becomes a French citizen 
again only after having conformed to the conditions pre- 
scribed in article 10. 

16. Young men cannot be enrolled upon the civic register 
unless they prove that they know how to read and write and 
to follow a mechanical calling. 

The manual operations of agriculture belong to the me- 
chanical callings. 

This article shall have effect only dating from the Year 
XII of the Republic. 

Title III. Primary Assemblies. 

17. The primary assemblies are composed of the citizens 
residing in the same canton. 

The domicile requisite for voting in these assemblies is 



Constitution of the Year III 217 

acquired only by residence for one year and is lost only by a 
year of absence. 

18. No one can act by proxy in the primary assemblies or 
vote upon the same matter in more than one of these assem- 
blies. 

19. There is at least one primary assembly per canton. 
When there are several of them, each is composed of four 

hundred citizens at least, of nine hundred at most. 

These numbers include the citizens, present or absent, hav- 
ing the right to vote there. 

20. The primary assemblies constitute themselves provis- 
ionally under the presidency of the most aged; the youngest 
discharges provisionally the duties of secretary. 

21. They are definitely constituted through the selection 
by ballot of a president, secretary, and three tellers. 

22. If difficulties arise over the qualifications requisite for 
voting, the assemhly decides provisionally, reserving recourse 
to the civil tribunal of the department. 

2^. In every other case the legislative body alone pro- 
nounces upon the validity of the operations of the primary 
assemblies. 

24. No one can appear in arms in the primary assem- 
blies. 

25. Their policing belongs to themselves. 

26. The primary assembhes meet : 

1st. In order to accept or reject changes in the constitu- 
tional act proposed by the assemblies of revision ; 

2d. To conduct the elections which belong to them accord- 
ing to the constitutional act. 

27. They meet with perfect right upon i Germinal of each 
year and proceed, according as there is occasion, to the se- 
lection : 

■ 1st. Of the members of the electoral assembly; 

2d. The justice of the peace and his assessors; 

3d. The president of the municipal administration of the 
canton, or the municipal officers in the communes of above 
five thousand inhabitants. 

28. Immediately after these elections, in the communes of 
under five thousand inhabitants, the communal assemblies are 
held, which elect the agents of each commune and their as- 
sistants. 



2i8 Constitution of the Year III 

29. Whatever is done in a primary or communal assembly 
that is beyond the purpose of its convocation and contrary to 
the forms settled by the constitution is null. 

30. The assemblies, whether primary or communal, carry- 
on no elections other than those which are assigned to theni 
by the constitutional act. 

31. All the elections are carried on by secret ballot. 

32. Every citizen who is legally convicted of having sold 
or purchased a vote is excluded from the primary and com- 
munal assemblies and from every public office for twenty 
years ; in case of repetition, forever. 

Title IV. Electoral Assemblies. 

33. Each primary assembly selects one elector for each 
two hundred citizens, present or absent, having the right to 
vote in the said assembly. For citizens up to the number of 
three hundred inclusive, only one elector is chosen. 

Two of them are selected for three hundred-one up to 
five hundred ; 

Three for five hundred-one up to seven hundred; 
P'our for seven hundred-one up to nine hundred. 

34. The members of the electoral assemblies are selected 
each year and can be re-elected only after an interval of two 
years. 

35. No one can be chosen elector unless he is fully twen- 
ty-five years of age and unites to the qualifications necessary 
for the exercise of the rights of French citizenship one of the 
following conditions, to wit: 

In the communes of above six thousand inhabitants, that 
of being proprietor or usufructuary of a property valued at an 
mcome equal to the local value of two hundred days of labor, 
or that of being occupant either of a habitation valued at an 
income equal to the value of one hundred and fifty days of 
labor, or of a rural property valued at two hundred days of 
labor ; 

In the communes of under six thousand inhabitants, that 
of being proprietor or usufructuary of a property valued at an 
income equal to the local value of one hundred and fifty days 
of labor, or that of being occupant either of a habitation val- 
ued at an income equal to the value of one hundred days of 



Constitution of the Year III 219 

labor or of rural property valued at one hundred days of 
labor ; 

And in the country that of being proprietor or usufruc- 
tuary of a property valued at an income equal to the local 
value of one hundred and fifty days of labor, or that of being 
the farmer or metayer of properties appraised at the value of 
two hundred days of labor. 

With respect to those who shall be at the same time pro- 
prietors or usufructuaries for one part and occupants, farmers, 
or metayers for the other, their properties by these different 
titles shall be cumulated to the amount necessary to estab- 
lish their eligibility. 

36. The electoral assembly of each department meets on 
20 Germinal of each year and concludes, in a single session of 
ten days at most and without power to adjourn, all the elec- 
tions which are to occur; aiter that it is dissolved ipso facto. 

27- The electoral assemblies cannot busy themselves with 
any matter foreign to the elections with which they are 
charged; they cannot send or receive any address, any peti- 
tion, or any deputation. 

38. The electoral assemblies cannot correspond among 
themselves. 

39. No citizen, having been a member of an electoral as- 
sembly, can take the title of elector or meet in that capacity 
with those who have been with him members of that same 
assembly. 

Infraction of the present article is an attempt against the 
general security. 

40. Articles 18, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 29, 30, 31 and 32 of the 
preceding title, upon the primary .assemblies, are common to 
the electoral assemblies. 

41. The electoral assemblies elect, according as there is 
occasion : 

1st. The members of the legislative body; to wit, the 
members of the Council of Ancients, then the members of the 
Council of the Five Hundred ; 

2d. The members of the tribunal of cassation; 

3d. The high j urors ; 

4th. The department administrators; 

5th. The president, public accuser, and recorder of the 
criminal tribunal; 



220 Constitution of the Year III 

6th. The judges of the civil tribunals. 

42. When a citizen is elected by the electoral assemblies 
in order to replace a deceased, resigned, or dismissed func- 
tionary, this citizen is elected only for the time which re- 
mained to the replaced functionary. 

43. The commissioner of the Executive Directory near the 
administration of each department is required, under penalty 
of dismissal, to inform the Directory of the opening and clos- 
ing of the electoral assemblies : this commissioner can neither 
stop nor suspend the operations, nor enter into the place of 
the sittings; but he has the right to call. for communication 
of the minutes of each session within the twenty-four hours 
which follow it, and he is required to inform the Directory 
of the infractions which may be made of the constitutional 
act. 

In all cases the legislative body alone passes upon the 
validity of the operations of the electoral assemblies. 

Title V. Legislative Power, 

General Provisions. 

44. The legislative body is composed of a Council of 
Ancients and a Council of the Five Hundred. 

45. In no case can the legislative body delegate to one or 
several of its members, nor to anybody whomsoever, any of 
the functions which are assigned to it by the present consti- 
tution. 

46. It cannot itself or by delegates discharge the execu- 
tive or the judicial power. 

47. The position of member of the legislative body and 
the discharge of any other public function, except that of 
archivist of the Republic, are incompatible. 

48. The law determines the method of permanently or 
temporarily replacing the public functionaries who have been 
elected members of the legislative body. 

49. Each department contributes, in proportion to its pop- 
ulation alone, to the selection of the members of the Council 
of Ancients and of the members of the Council of the Five 
Hundred. 

50. Every ten years the legislative body, according to the 
lists of population which are sent to it, determines the num- 



Constitution of the Year III 221 

ber of members of each council which each department shall 
furnish. 

51. No change can be made in this apportionment during 
this interval. 

52. The members of the legislative body are not repre- 
sentatives of the department which has selected them, but of 
the entire .nation, and no instructions can be given to them. 

53. Both councils are renewed every year by a third. 

54. The members retiring after three years can be im- 
mediately re-elected for the three following years, after which 
there must be an interval of two years before they can be 
elected again. 

55. No one in any case can be a member of the legisla- 
tive body during more than six consecutive years. 

56. If through extraordinary circumstances either of the 
two councils finds itself reduced to less than two-thirds of 
its members, it gives notice thereof to the Executive Directory, 
which is required to convoke without delay the primary as- 
semblies of the departments, which have members of the 
legislative body to replace through the effect of these circum- 
stances : the primary assemblies immediately select the elec- 
tors, who proceed to the necessary replacements. 

57. The newly elected members for both of the councils 
meet upon i Prairial of each year in the commune which has 
been indicated by the preceding legislative body, or in the 
same commune where it has held its last sittings, if it has not 
designated another. 

58. The two councils always reside in the same cO'mmune. 

59. The legislative body is permanent ; nevertheless, it 
can adjourn for periods which it designates. 

60. In no case can the two councils meet in a single hall. 

61. Neither in the Council of Ancients nor in the Council 
of the Five Hundred can the functions of president and sec- 
retary exceed the duration of one month. 

62. The two councils respectively have the right of poHce 
in the place of their sittings and in the environs which they 
have determined. 

63. They have respectively the right of police over their 
members ; but they cannot pronounce any penalty more severe 
than censure, arrests for eight days, or imprisonment for 
three. 



222 Constitution of the Year III 

64. The sittings of both councils are public: the specta- 
tors cannot exceed in number half of the members of each 
council respectively. 

The minutes of the sittings are printed. 

65. Every decision is taken by rising and sitting; in case 
of doubt, the roll call is employed, but in that case the votei 
are secret. 

66. Upon the request of one hundred of its members each 
council can form itself into secret committee of the v^^hole 
but only in order to discuss, not to resolve. 

67. Neither of these councils can create any permanenl 
committee within its own body. 

But each council has the power, when a matter seems to 
it susceptible of a preparatory examination, to appoint from 
among its members a special commission, which confines itself 
exclusively to the matter that led to its formation. 

This commission is dissolved as soon as the council has 
legislated upon the matter with which it was charged. 

68. The members of the legislative body receive an an- 
nual compensation ; it is fixed for both councils at the value 
of three thousand myriagrams of wheat (six hundred and 
thirty quintals, thirty-two pounds). 

69. The Executive Directory cannot cause any body of 
troops to pass or to. sojourn within six myriameters (twelve 
common leagues) of the commune where the legislative body 
is holding its sittings, except upon its requisition or with its 
authorisation. 

70. There is near the legislative body a guard of citizens, 
taken from the reserve national guard of all the departments 
and chosen by their brothers in arms. 

This guard cannot be less than fifteen hundred men in 
active service. 

71. The legislative body fixes the method of this service 
and its duration. 

72. The legislative body is not to be present at any pub-, 
lie ceremony nor does it send deputations to them. 

Council of the Five Hundred. 

']Z- The Council of the Five Hundred is unalterably fixed 
at that number. 



Constitution of the Year III 223 

74. In order to be elected a member of the Council of the 
Five Hundred it is necessary to be fully thirty years of age 
and to have been domiciled upon the soil of France for the 
ten years vi^hich shall have immediately preceded the election. 

The condition of thirty years of age shall not be required 
before the seventh year of the Republic : until that date the 
age of twenty-five shall be sufficient. 

75. The Council of the Five Hundred cannot deliberate, 
unless the sitting is composed of at least two hundred mem- 
bers. 

76. The proposal of the laws belongs exclusively to the 
Council of the Five Hundred. 

TJ. No proposition can be considered or decided upon in 
the Council of the Five Hundred, except in observance of the 
following forms. 

There shall be three readings of the proposal ; the interval 
between two of these readings cannot be less than ten days. 

The discussion is open after each reading; nevertheless, 
the Council of the Five Hundred can declare that there is 
cause for adjournment, or that there is no occasion for con- 
sideration. 

Every proposal shall be printed and distributed two days 
before the second reading. 

After the third reading the Council of the Five Hundred 
decides whether or not there is cause for adjournment. 

78. No proposition, which after having been submitted to 
discussion, has been definitely rejected after the third read- 
ing, can be renewed until after a year has elapsed. 

79. The propositions adopted by the Council of the Five 
Hundred are called Resolutions. 

80. The preamble of every resolution states : 

1st. The dates of the sittings upon which the three read- 
ings of the proposition shall have occurred ; 

2d. The act by which after the third reading it has been 
declared that there was not cause for adjournment. 

81. The propositions recognized as urgent by a previous 
declaration of the Council of the Five Hundred are exempt 
from the forms prescribed by article 77. 

This declaration states the motives for urgency and men- 
tion shall be made of them in the preamble of the resolution. 



224 Constitution o£ the Year III 

Council o'f Ancients. 

82. The Council of Ancients is composed of two hundred 
and fifty members. 

83. No one can be elected a member of the Council of 
Ancients, 

Unless he is fully forty years of age; 

Unless, moreover, he is married or a widower; 

And unless he has been domiciled upon the soil of the 
Republic for the fifteen years which shall have immediately 
preceded the election. 

84. The condition of domicile required by the preceding 
article and that prescribed by article 74 do not affect the cit- 
izens who are away from the soil of the Republic upon a 
mission of the government. 

85. The Council of Ancients cannot deliberate unless the 
sitting is composed of at least one hundred and twenty-six 
members. 

86. It belongs exclusively to the Council of Ancients 
to approve or reject the resolutions of the Council of the Five 
Hundred. 

87. As soon as a resolution of the Council of the Five 
Hundred has reached the Council of Ancients the president 
directs the reading of the preamble. 

88. The Council of Ancients refuses to approve the reso- 
lutions of the Council of the Five Hundred which have not 
been taken in the forms prescribed by the constitution. 

89. If the proposition has been declared urgent by the 
Council of the Five Hundred, the Council of Ancients decides 
to approve or reject the act of urgency. 

50. If the Council of Ancients rejects the act of urgency 
it does not pass upon the matter of the resohition. 

91. If 'the resolution is not preceded by an act of urgency 
there shall be three readings of it : the interval between two 
of these readings cannot be less than five days. 

The debate is open after each reading. 
Every resolution is printed and distributed at least two 
days before the second reading. 

92. The resolutions of the Council of the Five Hundred 
adopted by the Council of Ancients are called Laws. 

93. The preamble of the laws states the dates of the sit- 



Constitution of the Year III 225 

tings of the Council of Ancients upon which the three read- 
ings have occurred. 

94. The decree by which the Council of Ancients recog- 
nizes the urgency of a law is adduced and mentioned in the 
preamble of that law. 

95. The proposition for a law made by the Council of the 
Five Hundred embraces all the articles of a single project: 
the council shall reject them all or approve them in their en- 
tirety. 

96. The approval of the Council of Ancients is expressed 
upon each proposition of law by this formula signed by the 
president and the secretaries: The Council of Ancients ap- 
proves 

97. The refusal to adopt because of the omission of the 
forms indicated in article yj is expressed by this formula, 
signed by the president and the secretaries: The Constitution 
annuls 

98. The refusal to approve the principle of the law is ex- 
pressed by this formula, signed by the president and secre- 
taries : The Council of Ancients cannot adopt . . . 

99. In the case of the preceding article, the rejected pro- 
ject of law cannot be again presented by the Council of the 
Five Hundred until after a year has elapsed. 

100. The Council of the Five Hundred, nevertheless, can 
present at any date whatsoever a project of law which con- 
tains articles included in a project which has been rejected. 

loi. The Council of Ancients within the day sends the 
laws which it has adopted to the Council of the Five Hun- 
dred as well as to the Executive Directory. 

102. The Council of Ancients can change the residence 
of the legislative body; it indicates in this case a new place 
and the date at which the two councils are required to repair 
thence. 

The decree of the Council of Ancients upon this subject 
is irrevocable. 

103. Upon the day of this decree neither of the councils 
can deliberate any further in the commune where they have 
until then resided. 

The members who may continue their functions there make 
themselves guilty of an attempt against the security of the 
Republic. 



226 Constitution of the Year III 

104. The members of the Executive Directory who may 
retard or refuse to seal, promulgate, and dispatch the decree 
of transfer of the legislative body are guilty of the same 
offence. 

105. If, within the twenty days after that fixed by the 
Council of Ancients, the majority of each of the two councils 
have not made known to the Republic their arrival at the new 
place indicated or their meeting in some other place, the de- 
partment administrators, or in their default, the department 
civil tribunals, convoke the primary assemblies in order to 
select the electors who proceed forthwith to the formation of 
a new legislative body by the election of two hundred and fifty 
deputies for the Council of Ancients and five hundred for the 
other council. 

106. The department administrators, who, in the case of 
the preceding article may be remiss in convoking the primary 
assemblies, make themselves guilty of high treason and of an 
attempt against the security of the Republic. 

107. All citizens who interpose obstacles to the convoca- 
tion of the primarjr and electoral assemblies in the case of 
article 106 are guilty of the same offence. 

108. The members of the new legislative body assemble 
in the place to which the Council of Ancients had transferred 
its sittings. 

If they cannot meet in that place, in whatever place there 
is a majority there is the legislative body. 

109. Except in the case of article 102 no proposition of 
law can originate in the Council of Ancients. 

Of the Guaranty of the Members of the Legislative Body. 

no. The citizens who are or have been members of the 
legislative body cannot be questioned, accused,- or tried at any 
time for what they have said or written in the discharge of 
their functions. 

III. The members of the legislative body, from the mo- 
ment of their selection to the thirtieth day after the expira- 
tion of their functions, cannot be put on trial except in the 
forms prescribed by the articles that follow. 

112. For criminal acts they can be seized in the very act; 
but notice thereof is given without delay to the legislative 
body and the prosecution shall be continued only after ths 



Constitution of the Year III 227 

Council of the Five Hundred shall have proposed proceed- 
ing with the trial and the Council of Ancients shall have de- 
creed it. 

113. Outside of the case of Hagrante delicto the members 
of the legislative body cannot be brought before the police 
officers nor put in a state of arrest until after the Council of 
the Five Hundred has proposed proceeding with the trial and 
the Council of Ancients has decreed it. 

114. In the case of the two preceding articles a member of 
the legislative body cannot be brought before any other tri- 
bunal than the high court of justice. 

115. They are brought before the same court for acts of 
treason, squandering, maneuvers to overthrow the constitu- 
tion, and attempts against the internal security of the Re- 
public. 

116. No denunciation against .a member of the legislative 
body can give rise to a prosecution unless it is reduced to- 
writing, signed, and addressed to the Council of the Five Hun- 
dred. 

117. If, after having deliberated in the form prescribed 
by article jy, the Council of the Five Hundred accepts the 
denunciation, it so declares in these terms : 

The denunciation against . . . for the act of 
dated . . . signed ... is accepted. 

118. The accused is then summoned: he has a period of 
three full days in which to make his appearance, and when he 
appears, he is heaird in the interior of the place of the sittings 
of the Council of the Five Hundred. 

119. Whether the accused be present or not, the Council 
of the Five Hundred declares after this period whether there 
is occasion or not for the examination of his conduct. 

120. If the Council of the Five Hundred declares that 
there is occasion for an examination, the accused is sum- 
moned by the Council of Ancients: he has a period of two 
full days in which to appear; and if he appears, he is heard 
in the interior of the place of the sittings of the Council of 
Ancients. 

121. Whether the accused be present or not, the Council 
of Ancients, after this period, and after having deliberated in 
the forms prescribed by article 91, pronounces the accusation 



228 Constitution of the Year III 

if there is occasion and sends the accused before the high 
court of justice, which is required to proceed with the trial 
without any delay. 

122. All discussion in either council relative to complaint 
against or accusation of a member of the legislative body 
takes place in committee of the whole. 

Every decision upon the same matters is taken by roll call 
and secret ballot. 

123. Accusation pronounced against a member of the 
legislative body entails suspension. 

If he is acquitted by the judgment of the high court O'f 
justice he resumes his functions. 

Relations of the Two Councils between Themselves. 

124. When the two councils are definitively constituted 
they give notice thereof reciprocally by a messenger of state. 

125. Each council appoints four messengers of state for 
its service. 

126. They carry the laws and acts of the legislative body 
to each of the councils and to the Executive Directory; 
they have entrance for that purpose into the place of the sit- 
tings of the Executive Directory. 

They go preceded by two ushers. 

127. Neither of the two councils can adjourn beyond 
five days without the consent of the other. 

Promulgation of the Laws. 

128. The Executive Directory causes the laws and other 
acts of the legislative body to be sealed and published within 
two days after their reception. 

129. It causes to be sealed and promulgated, within a day, 
the laws and acts of the legislative body which are preceded 
by a decree of urgency. 

130. The publication of the law and the acts of the legis- 
lative body is prescribed in the following form : 

"In the name of the French Republic, (law) or {act of the 
legislative body) . . . the Directory orders that the above lav 
or legislative act shall be published, executed, and that it 
shall be provided ivith the seal of the Republic." 

131. Laws whose preambles do not attest the observation 
of the forms prescribed by articles yj and 91 cannot be pro- 



Constitution of the Year III 229 

mulgated by the Executive Directory, and its responsibility 
in this respect lasts six years. 

Laws are excepted for which the act of urgency has been 
approved by the Council of Ancients. 

Title VI. Executive Power. 

132. The executive power is delegated to a Directory of 
five members appointed by the legislative body, performing 
then the functions of an electoral body in the name of the 
nation. 

133. The Council of the Five Hundred- forms by secret 
ballot a list of ten times the number of the members of the 
Directory to be appointed and presents it to the Council of 
Ancients, which chooses, also by secret ballot, within this list. 

134. The members of the Directory shall be at least forty 
years of age. 

135. They can be taken only from among the citizens who 
have been members of the legislative body or ministers. 

The provision of the present article shall be observed only 
commencing with the ninth year of the Republic. 

136. Counting from the first day of the Year V of the 
Republic the members of the legislative body cannot he elect- 
ed members of the Directory or ministers, either during the 
continuance of their legislative functions or during the first 
year after the expirations of these same functions. 

137. The Directory is renewed in part by the election of 
one new member each year. 

During the first four years, the lot shall decide upon the or- 
der of retirement of those who shall have been appointed for 
the first time. 

138. None of the retiring members can be re-elected until 
after an interval of five years. 

139. The ancestor and the descendant in the direct line, 
brothers, uncle and nephew, cousins of the first degree, and 
those related by marriage in these various degrees, can- 
not be at the same time members of the Directory, nor can 
they succeed them until after an interval of five years. 

140. In case of the removal of one of the members of the 
Directory by death, resignation or otherwise, his successor is 
elected by the legislative body within ten days at the latest. 



230 Constitution of the Year III 

The Council of the Five Hundred is required to propose 
the candidates within the first five days and the Council of 
Ancients shall complete the election within the last five days. 

The new member is elected only for the term of office 
which remained to the one whom he replaces. 

Nevertheless, if this time does not exceed six months, the 
one who is elected remains in office until the end of the fifth 
year following. 

141. Each member of the Directory presides over it in 
his turn for three months only. 

The president has the signature and the keeping of the 
seal. 

The laws and the acts of the legislative body are ad- 
dressed to the Directory in the person of its president. 

142. The Executive Directory cannot deliberate if there 
are not at least three members present. 

143. It chooses for itself outside of its own body a secre- 
tary who countersigns the despatches and records the transac- 
tions in a register, where each member has the right to cause 
to be, inscribed his opinion with his motives. 

two years which immediately follow the expiration of these 
without the presence of its secretary ; in this case the trans- 
actions are recorded in a special register by one of the mem- 
bers of the Directory. 

144. The Directory provides, according to the laws, for the 
external and internal security of the Republic. 

It can issue proclamations in conformity with the laws and 
for their executio'U. 

It disposes of the armed force, without the Directory col- 
lectively or any of its members being able in any case to com- 
mand them during the time of their functions or during the 
two years which immediately follow the expiration of these 
same functions. 

145. If the Directory is iiiformed that some conspiracy is 
being plotted against the external or internal security of the 
state, it can issue warrants of apprehension and arrest against 
those who are presumed to be authors or the accomplices 
thereof; it can question them: but it is required under the 
penalties provided for the crime of arbitrary imprisonment to 
send them into the presence of the police officer within the 



Constitution of the Year III 231 

period of two days, in order to proceed according to the laws. 

146. The Directory appoints the generals-in-chief ; it can- 
not choose them from among the blood or marriage relations 
of its members within the degrees expressed in article 139. 

147. It supervises and secures the execution of the laws in 
the administrations and tribunals by commissioners of its ap- 
pointment. 

148. It appoints, from outside of its own body, the min- 
isters and dismisses them when it thinks expedient. 

It cannot choose those under the age of thirty years, nor 
from among the blood or marriage relations of its members 
within the degrees set forth in article 139. 

149. The ministers correspond directly with the author- 
ities who are subordinate to them. 

150. The legislative body determines the prerogatives 
and the number of the ministers. 

This number is from six at the least to eight at the most. 

151. The ministers do not form a council. 

152. The ministers are individually responsible for the 
non-execution of the laws as well as for the non-execution of 
the orders of the Directory. 

153. The Directory appoints the receiver of direct taxes 
of each department. 

154. It appoints the superintendenis in chief for the ad- 
ministrations of the indirect taxes and for the administration 
of the national lands. 

155. All the public functionaries in the French colonies, 
except the departments of the islands of France and Reunion, 
shall be appointed by the Directory until the peace. 

156. The legislative body can authorise the Directory 
to send into any of the French colonies, according to the need 
of the case, one or several special agents appointed by it for 
a limited time. 

The special agents shall exercise the same functions as the 
Directory and shall be subordinate to it. 

157. No member of the Directoi-y can leave the soil of the 
Republic until two years after the cessation of his functions. 

158. He is required during that interval to furnish to the 
legislative body proofs of his residence. 

Article 112 and the following to article 123 inclusive, rel- 



232 Constitution of the Year III 

ative to the guarantee of the legislative body, are common 
to the members of the Directory. 

159. In the case where more than two of the Directory 
may be put on trial, the legislative body shall provide in the 
usual forms for their provisional replacement during the trial. 

160. Outside of the cases of articles 119 and 120 the Di- 
rectory or any of its members cannot be summoned by the 
Council of the Five Hundred nor by the Council of Ancients. 

161. The reports and explanations called for by either of 
the councils are furnished in writing. 

162. The Directory is required to present to both councils 
each year in writing a statement of the expenses, the situ- 
ation of the finances, and the list of the existing pensions, as 
well as a project for those which it believes ought to be estab- 
lished. 

It shall indicate the abuses which have come to its knowl- 
edge. 

163. The Directory can at any time in writing invite the 
Council of the Five Hundred to take a subject into consider- 
ation ; it can propose measures to it, but not drawn up in the 
form of projects of law. 

164. No member of the Directory can be absent more 
than five days nor go away beyond four myriameters (eight 
common leagues) • from the place of the residence of the Di- 
rectory without the authorisation of the legislative body. 

165. The members of the Directory, when engaged in the 
exercise of their functions, whether upon the outside or with- 
in the interior of their residences, can appear only in the 
costume which is appropriate for them. 

166. The Directory has its guard, paid and clothed at the 
expense of the Republic, composed of one hundred and twen- 
ty infantry and one hundred and twenty cavalry. 

167. The Directory is accompanied by its guard in the 
public ceremonies and processions, where it has always the 
first rank. 

168. Each member of the Directory when abroad is ac- 
companied by two guards. 

169. Every army post owes to the Directory and to each 
of its members the higher military honors. 



Constitution of the Year III 233 

170. The Directory has four messengers of state whom it 
appoints and whom it can dismiss. 

They carry to the two legislative councils the letters and 
memoirs of the Directory ; they have entrance for that purpose 
into the place of the sittings of the legislative councils. 

They go preceded by two ushers. 

171. The Dircctorjr resides in the same commune as the 
legislative body. 

172. The members of the Directory are lodged at the ex- 
pense of the Republic and in a single edifice. 

173. The compensation of each of them for each year is 
fixed at the value of fifty thousand myriagrammes of wheat 
(ten thousand two hundred and twenty-two quintals). 

Title VII. Administrative and Municipal Bodies. 

174. There is in each department a central administration 
and in each canton at least one municipal administration. 

175. Every member of a department or municipal ad- 
ministration shall be at least twenty-five years of age. 

176. The ancestor and the descendant in the direct line, 
brothers, uncle and nephew, and those related by marriage 
in the same degrees, cannot be at the same time members of 
the same administration, nor can they succeed them until 
after an interval of two years. 

177. Each department administration is composed of five 
members ; it is renewed by a fifth each year. 

178. Every commune whose population runs from five 
thousand to .a hundred thousand inhabitants has a municipal 
administration of its own. 

179. Thene are in every commune whose population is. less 
than five thousand inhabitants a municipal agent and an as- 
sistant. 

180. The union of the municipal agents from each com- 
mune forms the cantonal municipality. 

181. There is, moreover, chosen in every canton a presi- 
dent of the municipal administration. 

182. In the communes whose population runs from five 
to ten thousand inhabitants there are five municipal officers; 

Seven for ten thousand to fifty thousand. 

Nine for fifty thousand to one hundred thousand. 

183. In the communes whose population exceeds one 



234 Constitution of the Year III 

hundred thousand there are at least three municipal admin- 
istrations. 

In these communes the division of the municipalities i? 
made in such a manner that the population of the district of 
each does not exceed fifty thousand persons and is not less 
than thirty thousand. 

The municipality of each district is composed of seven 
members. 

184. There is, in the communes which are divided into 
several municipalities, a central bureau for the subjects con- 
sidered indivisible by the legislative body. 

This bureau is composed of three members appointed by 
the department administration and confirmed by the executive 
power. 

185. The members of every municipal administration are 
appointed for two years and renewed each year by half or the 
part nearest a half and by the larger and the smaller frac- 
tion alternately. 

186. The department administrators and the members of 
the municipal administrations can be re-elected once without 
an interval. 

187. Any citizen who has been elected department admin- 
istrator or member of a municipal administration twice in 
succession and who has discharged the duties in virtue of 
both elections cannot be elected again until after an interval 
of two years. 

188. In case a department or municipal administration 
should lose one or several of its members by death, resigna- 
tion, or otherwise, the remaining administrators in filling the 
places can add to themselves temporary administrators who 
act in that capacity until the following elections. 

i8g. The department and municipal administrators can- 
not alter the acts of the legislative body, nor those of the 
Executive Directory, nor suspend the execution of them. 

They cannot meddle with matters belonging to the judic- 
ial body. 

190. The administrators are particularly charged with the 
apportionment of the direct taxes and with surveillance over 
the monies accruing from the public revenues in their terri- 
tory. 



Constitution of the Year III 235 

The legislative body determines the regulations and the 
method of their functions upon these subjects as well as upon 
other parts of the internal administration. 

191. The Executive Directory appoints over each depart- 
ment and municipal administration a commissioner whom it 
recalls when it deems expedient. 

This commissioner watches over and requires the execu- 
tion of the laws. 

192. The commissioner fo<r each local administration shall 
be taken from among the citizens domiciled for a year past in 
the department where that administration is established. 

He must be at least twenty-five years of age. 

193. The municipal administrations are subordinate to the 
department administrations and these to the ministers. 

In consequence, the ministers can annul, each en his part, 
the acts of the department administrations, and these the acts 
of the municipal administrations, when these acts are contrary 
to the laws or the orders of the higher authorities. 

194. The ministers can also suspend the department ad- 
ministrations which have contravened the laws or the orders 
of the higher authorities, and the department administrators 
have the same right with respect to the members of the muni- 
cipal administrations. 

195. No suspension or annulment becomes definitive with- 
out the formal confirmation of the Executive Directory. 

196. The Directory can also annul directly the acts of de-- 
partm'Cnt or municipal administrations. 

It can also suspend or dismiss directly when it thinks 
necessary either the department or the canton administrators 
and send them before the tribunals of tht; department when 
there is occasion. 

197. Every order providing for the annulment of acts, 
suspension, or dismissal of an administrator must include a 
statement of the reasons. 

198. When five members of a department administration 
are dismissed, the Executive Directory provides for their re- 
placement until the following election ; but it can choose their 
substitutes only from am.ong the former administrators of the 
same department. 

199. The administrations, whether department or canton, 
can correspond among themselves only upon matters as- 




236 Constitution of the Year III 

signed to them by the law and not upon the general interests 
of the Republic. 

200. Every administration shall annually render an ac- 
count of its management. 

The reports rendered by the department administrations are 
to be printed. 

201. All the acts of the administrative bodies are made 
public by the deposit of the register wherein they are recorded, 
which is open to all persons under the administration. 

This register is closed every six months and is deposited 
only from that day that it has been closed. 

The legislative body can postpone, according to circum- 
stances, the day fixed for this deposit. 

Title VIII. Judicial Pov^rer. 

General Provisions. 

202. The judicial functions cannot be exercised by the 
legislative body nor by the executive power. 

203. The judges cannot interfere in the exercise of the 
legislative power nor make any regulation. 

They cannot stop or suspend the execution of any law nor 
cite before them the administrators on account of their func- 
tions. 

204. No one can be deprived of the judges that the law 
assigns to him by any commission nor by other authorities 
than those which are fixed by a prior law. 

205. Justice is rendered gratuitously. 

206. The judges cannot be dismissed except for legally 
pronounced forfeiture, nor suspended except by an accepted 
accusation. 

207. The ancestor and the descendant in the direct line, 
brothers, uncle and nephew, cousins of the first degree, and 
those related by marriage in these various degreees, cannot be 
at the same time members of the same tribunal. 

208. The sittings of the tribunal are public; the judges 
deliberate in secret; the judgments are pronounced orally; 
they include a statement of reasons and in them is set forth 
the terms of the law applied. 

209. No citizen, unless he is fully thirty years of age, can 
be elected judge of a department tribunal, or justice of th? 
peace, or assessor of a justice of the peace, or judge of a tri- 



Constitution of the Year III 237 

bunal of commerce, or member of the tribunal of cassation, or 
juror, or commissioner of the Executive Directory before the 
tribunals. 

Of Civil Justice. 

210. The right to have differences passed upon by arbitra- 
tors chosen by the parties cannot be impaired. 

211. The decision of these arbitrators is without appeal 
and v^^ithout recourse in cassation, unless the parties have 
expressly reserved it. 

212. There are in each district fixed by law a justice of 
the peace and his assessors. 

They are all elected for two years and can be immediately 
and indefinitely re-elected. 

213. The law determines the matters over which the jus- 
tices of the peace and the assessors have jurisdiction in the 
last resort. 

It assigns to them the others over which they pronounce 
judgment subject to appeal. 

214. There are special tribunals for land and maritime 
commerce; the law fixes the places where it is permissible to 
establish them. 

Their power to pronounce judgment in the last resort can- 
not be extended beyond the value of five hundred myriagrams 
of wheat (a hundred and two quintals, twenty-two pounds). 

215. Cases of which the trial belongs neither to the 
justices of the peace nor to the tribunals of commerce, 
either in the last resort or subject to appeal, are brought 
directly before the justice of the peace and his assessors in 
order to be conciliated. 

If the justice of the peace cannot conciliate them, he sends 
them before the civil tribunal. 

216. There is one civil tribunal per department. 

Each civil tribunal is composed of twenty judges at least, 
one commissioner and one substitute approved and removable 
by the Executive Directory, and one recorder. 

The election of all the members of a tribunal takes place 
every five years. 

The judges can be re-elected. 

217. At the time of the election of the judges five substi- 
tutes are selected, three of whom are taken from among the 



238 Constitution of the Year III 

citizens residing in the commune where the tribunal sits. 

218. The civil tribunal pronounces in the last resort, in 
the cases determined by law, upon appeals from judgments, 
either of justices of the peace, or of the arbitrators, or 
of the tribunals of commerce. 

219. The appeal from the judgments pronounced by the 
civil tribunal goes to the civil tribunal of one of the three 
nearest departments, as is determined by law. 

220. The civil tribunal is divided into sections. 

A section with less than five judges cannot pronounce 
judgment. 

221. The assembled judges in each tribunal select among 
themselves by secret ballot the president of each section. 

Of Correctional and Criminal Justice. 

222. No one can be seized except in order to be brought 
before the officer of police; and no one can be put under ar- 
rest or detained except in virtue of a warrant of arrest from 
the officers of police or from the Executive Directory, in the 
case of article 145, or an order of arrest either from a tribunal 
or the foreman of the jury of accusation, o,r of a decree of ac- 
cusation from the legislative body in the case where it has 
authority to pronounce, or of a judicial judgment of con- 
demnation to prison or correctional detention. 

223. In order that the warrant which orders the arrest 
may be executed, it is necessary : 

1st. That it set forth formally the cause for the arrest and 
the law in conformity with which it is ordered ; 

2d. That it has been made known to the one who is the 
subject of it and that he has been left a copy thereof. 

224. Every person seized and brought before the officer of 
police shall be examined immediately or within a day at the 
latest. 

225. If the examination discloses that there is no matter 
for inculpation against him, he shall be put at liberty at once ; 
or, if there is occasion to send him to jail, he shall be brought 
there within the shortest period possible, which in any case 
shall not exceed three days. 

226. No arrested person can be detained, if he gives suf- 
ficient bail, in any of the cases where the law permits him to 
remain free under bail. 



Constitution of the Year III 239 

227. No person, in a case in which his detention is author- 
ised by the law, can be brought to or detained except in the 
places legally and publicly designated to serve for jails, court 
houses, or houses of detention. 

228. No custodian or jailer can receive or retain any 
person except in virtue of a warrant of arrest according to the 
forms prescribed by articles 222 and 223, an order for the tak- 
ing of the body, a decree of accusation, or a judicial de- 
cision of condemnation to prison or correctional detention, 
and unless the transcript of it has been entered upon his 
register. 

229. Every custodian or jailer is required, without any or- 
der being able to dispense therewith, to present the detained 
person to the civil officer having the police of the house of 
detention, whenever he shall be so required by that officer. 

230. Production of the detained person cannot be refused 
to his relatives and friends who are bearers of an order of the 
civil officer, who shall always be required to accord it, unless 
the custodian or jailer presents an order of the judge, tran- 
scribed upon his register, to keep the arrested person in secret. 

231. Any man, whatever his place or employment, other 
than those to whom the law has given the right of arrest, who 
shall give, sign, execute or cause to be executed an order for 
the arrest of any person, or whoever, even in the case of an 
arrest authorised by the law. shall bring to, receive, or detain 
a person in a place of detention not publicly and legally des- 
ignated, and all custodians of jailers who shall contravene 
the provisions of the three preceding articles, shall be guilt> 
of the crime of arbitrary imprisonment. 

232. All severities employed in arrests, detention, or ex- 
ecutions, other than those prescribed by the law, are crimes. 

233. In each department there are at least three and not 
more than six correctional tribunals for the trial of offences 
for which the punishment is neither afflictive nor infamous. 

These tribunals cannot pronounce penalties more severe 
than imprisonment for two years. 

Jurisdiction over offences for which the penalty does not 
exceed the value of three days of labor or imprisonment for 
three days is delegated to the justice of the peace, who pro- 
nounces in the last resort. 

234. Each correctional tribunal is composed of a president. 



240 Constitution of the Year III 

two justices of the peace or assessors of justices of the peace 
of the commune where it is established, a commissioner of the 
executive power, and a recorder. 

235. The president of each correctional tribunal is taken 
every six months and in turn from among the members of 
the sections of the civil tribunal of the department, the presi- 
dents excepted. 

236. There is an appeal from the judgment of the correc- 
tional tribunal before the department criminal tribunal. 

z^J. In the matter of offences involving afflictive or in- 
famous punishment, no person can be tried except upon an ac- 
cusation accepted by the jurors or decreed bv the legislative 
body, in case it belongs to that body to decree accusation. 

238. A first jury declares whether the accusation ought to 
be accepted or rejected : the facts are passed upon by a second 
jury, and the penalty fixed by the law is applied by the crim- 
inal tribunals. 

239. The jurors vote only by secret ballot. 

240. There are in each department as many accusation 
juries .as there are correctional tribunals. 

The presidents of the correctional tribunals are the fore- 
men thereof, each in his own district. 

In the communes of over fifty thousand souls there can be 
established by law, besides the president of the correctional 
tribunal, as many foremen of accusation juries as the transac- 
tion of business shall require. 

241. The functions of commissioner of the executive power 
and recorder for the foreman of the accusation jury are dis- 
charged by the commissioner and recorder of the correctional 
tribunal. 

242. Each foreman of the accusation jury has the imm.edi- 
ate surveillance over all the police officers of his district. 

243. The foreman of the accusation jury, as police officer, 
on account of the denunciations made to him by the public 
accuser, whether ex-officio or in accordance with the orders 
of the Executive Directory, immediately prosecutes : 

1st. Attacks upon the liberty or personal security of 
the citizens ; 

2d. Those committed against the laws of nations ; 

3d. Resistance to the execution of the judicial decisions or 



Constitution of the Year III 241 

any of the executive acts emanating from the constituted au- 
thorities ; 

4th. Disturbances caused and assaults committed in order 
to hinder the collection of taxes and the free circulation of 
provisions and other articles of commerce. 

244. There is one criminal tribunal for each department, 

245. The criminal tribunal is composed of a president, a 
public accuser, four judges taken from the civil tribunal, the 
commissioner of the executive power before the tribunal or 
his substitute, and a recorder. 

There is in the criminal tribunal of the department of the 
Seine, a vice-president and a substitute for the public accuser ; 
this tribunal is divided into two sections ; eight members of 
the civil tribunal discharge there the duties of judges. 

246. The presidents of the sections of the civil tribunals 
cannot fill the positions of judges upon the criminal tribunal. 

247. The other judges, each in his turn for six months 
in the order of his appointment, perform their duty there and 
they cannot discharge any functions in the civil tribunal dur- 
ing that time. 

248. The public accuser is charged : 

1st. To prosecute the offences according to the warrants 
of accusation accepted by the first juries; 

2d. To transmit to the police officers the denunciations 
which are addressed directly to him; 

3d. To watch over the police officers of the department 
and to proceed against them, according to the law, in cases of 
negligence or more serious acts. 

249. The commissioner of the executive power is charged : 
1st. To require regularity of forms in the course of the 

proceedings before the decision, and the application of the law. 
2d. To obtain the execution of the decisions rendered by 
the criminal tribunal. 

250. The judges cannot propound to the jurors any com- 
plex question. 

251. The trial jury consists of at least twelve jurors: the 
accused has the right to reject the number of them which the 
law determines. 

252. The proceedings before the trial jury are public and 
the accused cannot be denied the assistance of counsel whom 
he has chosen or who has been selected for him ex-officio. 



242 Constitution of the Year III 

253. No person acquitted by a legal jury can be re-arrestej 
or accused for the same offence. 

Tribunal of Cassation. 

254. There is in the whole republic one tribunal of cassa- 
tion. 

It decides : 

1st. Upon the petitions in cassation against the judicial 
decisions in the last resort rendered by the tribunals ; 

2d. Upon petitions for removal from one court to an- 
other, on account of legitimate suspicion or public security ; 

3d. Upon the orders of judges and the complaints of par- 
tiality of a whole court. 

255. The tribunal of cassation can never have jurisdiction 
over the facts of the actions; but it reverses the judgments 
rendered upon proceedings in which the forms have been 
violated or which contain any express contravention of the 
law, and it sends back the facts of the suit to the tribimal 
which shall have jurisdiction therein. 

256. When after one cassation the second judgment upon 
the matter is attacked by the same means as the first, the ques- 
tion cannot be discussed again before the tribunal of cassa- 
tion without having been submitted to the legislative body, 
which provides a law to which the tribunal of cassation is re- 
quired to conform itself. 

257. Each year the tribunal of cassation is required to 
send to each of the sections of the legislative body a deputa- 
tion which presents to it the list of the judgments rendered, 
with marginal notes and the text of the laws which have de- 
termined the judgment. 

258. The number of the judges of the tribunal of cassa- 
tion cannot exceed three-fourths of the number of the de- 
partments. 

259. This tribunal is renewed every year by a fifth. 

The electoral assemblies of the departments select succes- 
sively and alternately the judges who shall replace those who 
retire from the tribunal of cassation. 

The judges of this tribunal can always be re-elected. 

260. Each judge of the tribunal of cassation has a substi- 
tute elected by the same electoral assembly. 



Constitution of the Year III 243 

261. There are before the tribunal of cassation a com- 
missioner and substitutes appointed and removable by the Ex- 
ecutive Directory-. 

262. The Executive Directory informs the tribunal of 
cassation, by means of its commissioner and without prej- 
udice to the right oi the interested parties, of the acts in 
which' the judges have exceeded their powers. 

263. The tribunal annuls these acts ; and if they give 
cause for forfeiture the fact is announced to the legislative 
body, which renders the decree of accusation, after having 
heard or summoned the accused. 

264. The legislative body can annul the judgments of the 
tribunal of cassation, reserving the personal prosecution of 
the judges who may have incurred forfeiture. 

High Court of Justice. 

265. There is a high court of justice to try the accusa- 
tions accepted by the legislative body against either its own 
members or those of the Executive Directory. 

266. The high court of justice is composed of five judges 
and two national accusers drawn froni the tribunal of cas- 
sation and of high jurors selected by the electoral assemblies 
of the departments. 

267. The high court of justice constitutes itself only 
in virtue of a proclamation of the legislative body drawn up 
and published by the Council of the Five Hundred. 

268. It constitutes itself and holds its sittings in the place 
de.signated by the proclamation of the Council of the Five 
Hundred. 

This place cannot be nearer than twelve myriameters to 
that where the legislative body resides. 

269. When the legislative body has proclaimed the form- 
ation of th.e high court of justice, the tribunal of cassation 
in a public sitting draws by lot fifteen of its members ; it se- 
lects in the same sitting five of these fifteen, one after anothei, 
by means of secret ballot; the five judges thus selected are 
the judges of the high court of justice: they choose a presi- 
dent from among themselves. 

270. The tribunal of cassation selects by ballot, in the 
same sitting and by majority, two of its members to discharge 



244 Constitution of the Year III 

for the high court of justice the functions of national ac- 
cusers. 

271. The bills of accusation are drawn up and put into 
form by the Council of the Five Hundred. 

272. The electoral assemblies of each department select 
every year a jury for the high court of justice. 

273. The Executive Directory causes to be printed and 
published, one month after the date of the elections, the list 
of the jurors appointed by the high court of justice. 

Title IX. Of the Armed Force. 

274. The armed force is established in order to defend the 
state against enemies from without and to assure within the 
maintenance of order and the execution of the laws. 

275. The armed force is essentially obedient : no armed 
force can deliberate. 

276. It is divided into the reserve national guard and the 
active national guard. 

Of the Reserve National Guard. 

277. The reserve national guard is composed of all citi- 
zens and sons of citizens in condition to bear arms. 

278. Its organization and its discipline are the same for 
the whole Republic ; they are fixed by law. 

279. No Frenchman can exercise the rights of citizenship 
if he is not registered upon the roll of the reserve national 
guard. 

280. The distinctions of rank and subordination exist 
there only in relation to the service and during its continu- 
ance. 

281. The ofificers of the reserve national guard are elected 
at stated times by the citizens who compose it and can be re- 
elected only after an interval. 

282. The command of the national guard of a'n entire de- 
partment cannot be entrusted ordinarily to a single citizen. 

283. If it is deemed necessary to assemble the whole na- 
tional guard of a department, the Executive Directory can 
appoint a temporary commander. 

284. The command of the reserve national guard in a city 
of a hundred thousand and upwards cannot ordinarily be en- 
trusted to a single man. 



Constitution of the Year III 245 

Of the Active National Guard. 

285. The Republic maintains in its pay, even in time of 
peace, under the name of the active national guards, an army 
and a navy. 

286. The army is formed by voluntary enlistment, and in 
case of need, by the method which the law determines. 

287. No foreigner who has not acquired the rights of 
French citizenship can be admitted into the French armies, 
unless he has made one or more campaigns for the establish- 
ment of the Republic. 

288. The commanders or heads of the army or navy are 
appointed only in case of war. They receive from the Direc- 
tory commissions revocable at will. The duration of these 
commissions is confined to one campaign ; but they can be con- 
tinued. 

289. The command of the armJes of the Republic cannot 
be confided to a single man. 

290. The army and navy are subject to special laws for 
discipline, for the form of trials, and for the nature of the 
penalties. 

291. No part of the reserve national guard or of the 
active national guard can act in the internal service of the 
Republic except upon the written requisition of the civil au- 
thority in the forms prescribed by the law. 

292. The public force cannot be requisitioned by the civil 
authorities except within the extent of their territory; it can- 
not be transported from one canton to another, without this 
being authorised by the administration of the department, 
nor from one department into another without the orders of 
the Executive Directory. 

293. Nevertheless, the legislative body determines the 
methods to secure by the armed force the execution of the 
judicial decisions and the prosecution of the accused upon all 
the French territory, 

294. In case of imminent danger the municipal administra- 
tion of the canton can make requisition upon the national 
guard of the neighboring cantons; in this case, the adminis- 
tration which has made requisition and the leaders of the 
national guards who have been requisitioned are likewise re- 
quired to make instant report of it to the department admin- 
istration. 



246 Constitution of the Year III 

295. No foreign troops can be introduced upon French 
territory without the previous consent of the legislative body. 

Title X. Public Instruction. 

296. There are in the Republic primary schools vi^here the 
pupils may learn reading, writing, the elements of computation 
a,nd those of morality. The Republic provides for the expense 
of the lodgings of the instructors who preside over these 
schools. 

297. There are in the different parts of the Republic 
schools higher than the primary schools, the number of which 
shall be such that there shall be at least one of them for every 
two departments. 

298. There is for the whole Republic a national institute 
charged with the collection O'f discoveries and the perfecting 
of the arts and sciences. 

299. The different establishments of public instruction 
have between them no relation of subordination nor of ad- 
ministrative correspondence. 

300. Citizens have the right to form private establish- 
ments for education and instruction as welh as free societies 
to proimote the progress of science, letters, and the arts. 

301. There shall be national festivals established in order 
to maintain fraternity among the citizens and to attach them 
to the constitution, the fatherland, and the laws. 

Title XI. Taxes. 

302. The public taxes are considered and fixed each year 
by the legislative body. The imposition of them belongs to 
it alone. They cannot continue more than one year unless 
they are expressly renewed. 

303. The legislative body can create any kind of tax that 
it shall believe necessary ; but it shall establish each year a 
land tax and a personal property tax. 

304. Every person, who, not being included in the case of 
articles 12 and 13 of the constitution, has not been included on 
the roll of the direct taxes, has the right to present himself 
to the municipal administration of his com^mune and to be en- 
rolled there for a personal tax equal to the local value of three 
days of agricultural labor. 

305. The registration mentioned in the preceding article 



Constitution of the Year III 247 

can be effected only in the month of Messidor of each year. 

306. Taxes of every sort are apportioned among those 
Hable for taxes, in accordance with their means. 

307. The Executive Directory directs and watches over the 
collection and the deposit of the taxes and gives all the or- 
ders necessary for that purpose. 

308. The detailed accounts of the expenditure of the min- 
isters, signed and certified by them, are made public at the 
commencement of each year. 

The same thing shall be done for the lists of receipts for 
the different taxes and all the public revenues. 

309. The accounts of these expenses and receipts are dis- 
tinguished according to their nature; they show the sums re- 
ceived and expended year by year in each part of the general 
administration. 

310. The accounts of the special expenses of the depart- 
ments and those which relate to the tribunals, administrations, 
the progress of the sciences, and all public works and estab- 
lishments are likewise published. 

311. The department administrations and the municipal- 
ities cannot make any assessment beyond the sums fixed by the 
legislative body, nor, without being authorized by it, consider 
or allow any local loan at the expense of the citizens of the 
department, commune or canton. 

312. The right to regulate the manufacture and issue of 
every sort of .monies, to fix the values and weights thereof, 
and to determine the type thereof, belongs to the legislative 
body alone. 

313. The Executive Directory watches over the manufac- 
ture of the monies and appoints the officers charged with the 
immediate conduct of this inspection. 

314. The legislative body determines the taxes of the col- 
onies and their commercial relations with the mother country. 

National Treasury and Book-keeping. 

315. There are five commissioners of the national treas- 
ury elected by the Council of Ancients from a triple list pre- 
sented by that of the Five Hundred. 

316. The duration of their functions is five years: one of 
them is renewed every year and can be re-elected indefinitely 
without interval. 



248 Constitution of the Year III 

317. .The commissioners of the treasury are charged to 
watch over the receipt of all the national monies ; 

To order the movements of funds and the payment of all 
the public expenses consented to by the legislative body ; 

To keep an open expense and receipt account with the re- 
ceiver of the direct taxes of each department, with the differ- 
ent national customs-administrations, and with the paymasters 
who may be established in the departments ; 

To maintain with the said receivers and paymasters, with 
the customs-administrations, the correspondence necessary to 
secure exact and regular returns regarding the funds. 

318. Under penalty of forfeiture they cannot make any 
payment except in virtue : 

1st. Of a decree of the legislative body and to the amount 
of the funds decreed by it for each purpose ; 

2d. Of a decision of the Directory; 

3d. Of the signature of the minister who orders the ex- 
penditure. 

319. Under penalty of forfeiture also, they cannot approve 
any payment, unless the warrant, signed by the minister whom 
that kind of expenditure concerns, sets forth the date of the 
decision of the Executive Directory, as well as of the decrees 
of the legislative body which authorise the payment. 

320. The receivers of the direct taxes in each department, 
the different national customs-administrations, and the pay- 
masters in the departments remit to the national treasury 
their respective reports ; the treasury verifies and allows them. 

321. There are five commissioners of the national book- 
keeping, elected by the legislative body at the same dates and 
according to the same forms and conditions as the commis- 
sioners of the treasury. 

322. The general report of the receipts and expenditures 
of the Republic, supported by the special reports and the 
vouchers, is presented b}' the commissioners of the treasury 
to the commissioners of the book-keeping, who' verify and 
allow it. 

323. The commissioners of the book-keeping give inform- 
ation to the legislative body of the abuses, defalcations, and 
all cases of responsibility which they discover in the course of 
their operations ; they propose on their part the measures suit- 
able to the interests of the RepubHc. 



Constitution of the Year III 249 

324. The result of the accounts allowed by the commis- 
sioners of the book-keeping is printed and made public. 

325. The commissioners, both of the national treasury 
and of the book-keeping, cannot be suspended or removed 
except by the legislative body. 

But during the adjournment of the legislative body the 
Executive Directory can provisionally suspend and replace 
the commissioners of the national treasury to the number ol 
two at most, subject to the reference of it to one or the other 
council of the legislative body as soon as they have resumed 
their sittings. 

Title XII. Foreign Relations.. 

326. War can be declared only by a decree of the legisla- 
tive body upon the formal and urgent proposal of the Execu- 
tive Directory. 

327. The two councils unite in the usual forms upon the 
decree by which war is declared. 

328. In case of imminent or actually begun hostilities, of 
threats or preparations for war against the French Republic, 
the Executive Directory is required to employ, for the defence 
of the state, the means placed at its disposal, subject to giv- 
ing information thereof without delay to the legislative bodv. 
Also, it can indicate in this case the augmentations of force 
and the new legislative measures which the circumstances 
may require. 

329. The directory alone can maintain political relations 
abroad, conduct negotiations, distribute the forces of the army 
and the navy as it deems suitable and determine the direction 
of them in case of war. 

330. It is authorised to make preliminary stipulations such 
as armistices and neutralizations ; it can also arrange secret 
conventions. 

331. The Executive Directory negotiates, signs or causes 
to be signed all the treaties of peace, alliance/ truce, neutral- 
ity, commerce and other conventions with foreign powers 
which it deems necessary for the welfare of the state. 

These treaties and conventions are negotiated in the name 
of the French Republic by the diplomatic agents appointed by 
the Executive Directory and subject to its instructions. 



250 Constitution of the Year III 

332. In case a treaty includes secret articles, the provis- 
ions of these articles cannot be destructive of the open articles 
nor contain any alienation of the territory of the Republic, 

223- Treaties are valid only after having been examined 
and ratified by the legislative body; nevertheless the secret 
conditions can receive their execution provisionally from the 
very moment when they are arranged by the Directory. 

334. Neither of the legislative councils deliberates over 
war or peace except in committee of the whole. 

335. Foreigners, whether established in France or not, 
inherit from their kinsmen, whether French or foreign ; they 
contract for, acquire, and receive estates situated in France, 
and dispose of them, just as French citizens, by all the mean,) 
authorised by law. 

Title XIII. Revision of the Constitution. 

336. If experience makes known inconveniences from any 
articles of the constitution, the Council of Ancients may pro- 
pose the revision of them. 

337. The proposal of the Council of Ancients is in this 
case submitted for ratification to the Council of the Five Hun- 
dred. 

338. When, within a space of nine years, the proposal of 
the Council of Ancients, ratified by the Council of the Five 
Hundred, has been made at three dates removed from one an- 
other by at least three years, an assembly of revision is con- 
voked. 

339. This assembly is formed of two members per depart- 
ment, all elected in the same manner as the members of the 
legislative body and meeting the same conditions as those 
demanded for the Council of Ancients. 

340. The Council of Ancients designates, for the meeting 
of the assembly of revision, a place at least twenty myriame- 
ters distant from that where the legislative body sits. 

341. The assembly of revision has the right to change the 
place of its residence, observing the distance prescribed in 
the preceding article. 

342. The assembly of revision does not exercise any leg- 
islative or governmental function ; it confines itself to the 
revision of the articles alone which have been designated by 
the legislative body. 



Constitution o£ the Year III 251 

343. All the articles of the constitution, without exception, 
continue in force until the changes proposed by the assembly 
of revision have been accepted by the people. 

344. The members of the assembly of revision deliberate 
in common. 

345. The citizens who are members of the legislative 
body at the moment when an assembly of revision is con- 
voked cannot be elected members of this assembly. 

346. The assembly of revision despatches directly to the 
primary .assemblies the project of reform which it has agreed 
upon. It is dissolved when this project has been despatched 
to them. 

347. The duration of the assembly of revision cannot in 
any case exceed three months. 

348. The members of the assembly of revision cannot 
be questioned, accused, nor tried at any time for what they 
have said or written in the exercise of their functions. 

During the continuance of these functions they cannot be 
put on trial except by a decision of their fellow members of 
the assembly of revision. 

349. The assembly of revision does not participate in 
any public ceremony ; its members receive the same compen- 
sation as that of the members of the legislative body. 

350. The assembly of revision has the right to exercise 
or to cause to be exercised the police power in the commune 
where it resides. 

Title XIV. General Provisions. 

351. There exists among the citizens no other superiority 
than that of the public functionaries and that only in relation 
to the exercise of their functions. 

352. The law does not recognize religious vows nor any 
obligation contrary to the natural rights of man. 

353. No one can be prevented from speaking, writing, 
printing, or publishing his ideas. 

Writings cannot be made subject to any censorship before 
their publication. 

No one can be held responsible for what he has written 
or published, except in the cases provided for by law. 

354. No one can be prevented from engaging in the wor- 
ship which he has chosen, while he conforms to the laws. 



2.'i2 Constitution of the Year III 

No one can be forced to contribute to the expenses of a 
religion. The Republic does not pay a stipend to any of them. 

355. There is neither privilege, nor mastership, nor 
jurande, nor limitation upon the liberty of the press, of com- 
merce, and the pursuit of industry a.nd the arts of every 
kind. 

Every prohibitive law of this sort, when circumstances 
render it necessary, is essentially provisional and has effect 
only for one year at most, unless it be formally renewed. 

356. The law particularly watches over the professions 
which affect the public morals, the security and the health of 
the citizens ; but admission to the practice of these professions 
cannot be made dependent upon any pecuniary payment. 

357. The law shall provide for the reward of inventors 
or for the maintenance of an exclusive property in their dis- 
coveries or their productions. 

358. The constitution guarantees the inviolability of all 
properties or just indemnification for those of which legally 
established public necessity may demand the sacrifice. 

359. The house of each citizen is an inviolable asylum; 
during the night no one has the right to enter it except in 
the case of fire, flood, or call from the interior of the house. 

During the day the orders of the constituted authorities 
can be put into execution there. 

No •domiciliary visit can take place except in virtue of a 
law and for the person or object expressly designated in the 
document which orders the visit. 

360. Corporations or associations contrary to the public 
order cannot be formed. 

361. No assembly of citizens can style itself a popular 
society. 

362. No private society occupying itself with political ques- 
tions can correspond with another, or affiliate with it, or 
hold public sittings composed of the members of the society 
and of associates distinguished from one another, or impose 
conditions of admission and eligibility, or arrogate to- itself 
rights of exclusion, or cause its members to wear any ex- 
ternal sign of their association. 

363. Citizens .cannot exercise their political rights except 
in the primary or communal assemblies. 



Constitution of the Year III 253 

364. All persons are free to address petitions to the 
public authorities ; but they shall be individual ; no association 
can present them collectively, except the constituted author- 
ities, and only for matters appropriate to their province. 

The petitioners must never forget the respect due to the 
constituted authorities. 

365. Every armed mob is an attack upon the constitu- 
tion; it shall be dispersed immediately by force. 

366. Every unarmed mob shall likewise be dispersed, at 
first by way of verbal command, and if necessary by the 
display of armed force. 

367. Several constituted authorities can never unite in 
order to deliberate together; any document emanating from 
such a meeting cannot be executed. 

368. No one can wear distinctive badges which recall 
functions formerly exercised or services rendered. 

369. The members of the legislative body and all the 
public functionaries wear in the discharge of their functions 
the costume or symibol of the authority with which they arc 
invested : the law determines the form thereof. 

370. No citizen can renounce in whole or in part com- 
pensation or salary which is assigned to him by law, on 
account of public functions. 

371. There is uniformity of weights and measures in the 
Republic. 

372. The French era commences September 22, 1792, the 
day of the foundation of the Republic. 

2,7Z- The French nation declares that in any case it will 
not permit the return of the French who, having abandoned 
their fatherland since July 15, 1789, are not included in the 
exceptions contained in the laws against the emigres; and it 
forbids the legislative body to create new exceptions upon this 
point. 

The estates of the emigres are irrevocably acquired for 
the profit of the Republic. 

374. The French nation likewise proclaims, as a guarantee 
of the public faith, that after a legally consummated award 
of national lands, whatever the origin thereof, the lawful ac- 
quirer cannot be dispossessed of them; saving to third claim- 
ants, if there be need, indemnification by the national treas- 
urer. 



254 Law against Public Enemies 

375. None of the powers instituted by the constitution 
has the right to change it in its entirety or in any of its parts, 
saving the reforms wliich can be effected by way of revision 
in accordance with the provisions of the title xiii. 

376. The citizens shall recall without ceasing that it is 
upon the wisdom of the choices in the primary and elec- 
toral assemblies that the duration, preservation and prosperity 
of the Republic principally depend. 

377. The French people entrust the safe keeping of the 
present constitution to the fidelity of the legislative body, 
the Executive Directory, the administrators and the judges; 
to the vigilance of the fathers of families ; to the husbands 
and the mothers ; to the affection of the young citizens ; to the 
courage of all the French. 



51. Law against Public Enemies, 

April 16, 1796 (27 Germinal, Year IV), Duvergier, Lois, IX, 
79-80. 

The period of the Directory (1795-1799) was marked by nu- 
merous harsh measures against the classes denominated public 
enemies. This law shows some of the classes which were regarded 
as public enemies and the character of the penalties employed 
against them. See also No. 56. 

Refeebnce. Aulard, Revolution francaise, 580-581. 

I. All those are guilty of crime against the internal se- 
curity of the Republic and against the personal security of the 
citizens, and shall be punished with death, in conformity with 
article 612 of the code of offences and penalties, who, by 
their discourses or by their printed writings, whether distrib- 
uted or posted, seek to effect the dissolution of the national 
representation or that of the Executive Directory, or the mur- 
der of all or any of the m.embers who compose them, or the 
re-establishment of the monarchy, or that of the constitution 
of 1793, or that of the constitution of 1791, or of any govern- 
ment other than that estabHshed by the constitution of the 
Year III, as accepted by the French people, or the invasion 
of public properties, or the pillage or partition of individual 
properties, under the name of an agrarian law, or in any other 
manner. 



Treaties with the Pope 255 

The penalty of death mentioned in the present article shall 
be commuted to that of deportation, if the jury declares that 
there were extenuating circumstances in the offence. 

5. Every gathering in which provocations of the nature 
of those mentioned in article i are made takes the character 
of a seditious mob 

9. Every person who shall appear in public wearing a 
rallying symbol other than the national cockade shall be ar- 
rested and punished with one year of imprisonment, by way of 
correctional police. 

52. Treaties with the Pope. 

In 1796-7 during the intervals between his Italian campaigns 
against the Austrians Napoleon Bonaparte turned his attention to 
the states of northern and central Italy. Some he revolution- 
ized, others he did not. These documents show how the states 
which were not revolutionized were treated. 

References. Fyffe, Modern Europe. I, 135-136 (Popular ed., 
f)l-921 . Fournier, Nanolcon. S4-85. '.)3-05 : Rose, Napoleon, I. 93- 
95. 125-126 : Sloane. Nanolcon, I, 211, 260-262 ; Lanf rey. Napoleon, I. 
101-104. 124-127, 155-157: Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire pen- 
erale, VIII, 436-439 ; Jaures. Histoire socialiste, V, 348, 352-354. 

A. Suspension of Hostilities. June 2;^, 1796 (5 Messidor 
Year IV). De Clercq, Traitcs, I, 276-277. 

1. Wishing to give proof of the regard which the French 
government has for His Majesty, the King of Spain, the 
general-in-chief and the undersigned commissioners grant a 
suspension of hostilities to His Holiness, dating from to-day 
until five days after the end of the negotiations which are 
about to be entered upon at Paris for the conclusion of a 
definitive peace between the two states. 

2. The Pope shall send as soon as possible a plenipoten- 
tiary to Paris in order to obtain from the Executive Direct- 
ory the definitive peace, offering for it the necessary repar- 
ations for outrages and losses,- and especially the murder of 
Basseville and the damages due to his family. 

3. All persons imprisoned in the states of the Pope on 
pccount of their political opinions shall be immediately set at 
liberty and their property shall be restored. 



256 Treaties with the Pope 

4. The ports of the states of the Pope shall be closed to 
the vessels of the powers at war with France and open to 
French vessels. 

5. The French army shall continue to remain in possses- 
sion of the legations of Bologna and Ferrara, and shall evacu- 
ate that of Faenza. 

6. The citadel of Ancona, with its artillery, supplies and 
provisions, shall be put in the hands of the French army 
within six days. 

7. The city of Ancona shall continue to remain under 
the civil government of the Pope. 

8. The Pope shall deliver to the French Republic one hun- 
dred pictures, busts, vases or statues at the choice of the com- 
missioners who shall be sent to Rome, among which articles 
shall be particularly included the bronze bust of Junius Brutus 
and that in marble of Marcus Brutus, the two placed upon 
the capitol, a.nd five hundred manuscripts at the choice of the 
same commissioners. 

9. The Pope shall pay to the French Republic 21 million 
livres French money, of which 15,500,000 livres shall be in 
specie or ingots of gold or silver and the remaining 5,500,000 
in commodities, merchandise, horses, and cattle, according to 
the requisition which shall be made for them by the agents 
of the French Republic. 

The 15,500,000 livres shall be paid in three periods, to wit: 
5 million within 15 days, 5 within a month, and the 5,500,000 
within three months. The 5,500,000 in commodities, mer- 
chandise, • horses, and cattle, as fast as demands are made, 
shall be delivered in the ports of Genoa, Leghorn, and other 
places occupied by the army, which shall be designated. 

The sum of 21 millions mentioned in the present article 
is independent of the contributions which are or shall be 
levied in the legations of Bologna, Ferrara, and Faenza. 

10. The Pope shall be required to give passage to the 
troops of the French Republic, whenever it shall be demanded 
of him. The provisions which shall be furnished them shall 
be paid for by mutual agreement. 

B. Treaty of Tolentino, February 19, 1797 (i Ventose, 
Year V). De Clercq. Traifcs. I, 313-316. 



Treaties with the Pope 257 

The General-in-Chief Bonaparte, commanding the army of 
Italy, and Citizen Cacault, agent of the French Republic in 
Italy . . . and . . . plenipotentiaries of His Holi- 
ness, have agreed upon the following articles • 

1. There shall be peace, friendship, and good understand- 
ing between the French Republic and Pope Pius VI. 

2. The Pope revokes every written or secret adhesion, 
consent, and accession given by him to the armed coalition 
against the French Republic and to every treaty of offensive 
or defensive alliance with any power or state whatsoever. 
He binds himself, as well for the existing war as for wars in 
the future, not to furnish to any of the powers in arms against 
the French Republic any assistance in men, vessels, arms, mu- 
nitions of war, provisions and money by any title or under 
any denomination whatsoever. 

4. The warships or privateers of powers in arms against 
the Republic shall not be permitted to enter, and still less to 
remain, during the present war, in the ports and roadsteads 
of the Ecclesiastical State. 

5. The French Republic shall continue to enjoy, as before 
the war, all the rights and prerogatives which France had 
at Rome, and in everything shall be treated as are the most 
favored powers, and especially in respect to its ambassador, 
or minister, consuls, and vice-consuls. 

6. The Pope renounces unconditionally all the rights 
to which he could lay claim upon the cities and territory of 
Avignon, the County of Venaissin and its dependencies, and 
transfers, cedes, and abandons the said rights to the French 
Republic. 

7. The Pope al-so forever renounces, cedes, and transfers 
to the French Republic all his rights to ithe territories known 
under the names of the Legations of Bologna, Ferrara and 
Ronmgna; no attack shall be made upon the catholic religion 
in the said legations. 

8. The city, citadel, and villages forming' the territory of 
the city of Ancona shall remain with the French Republic 
until the continental peace. 

12. . . . The Pope shall pay to the French Republic 



258 Law upon British Products 

in coin, diamonds, or other valuables,, the sum of 15,000,000 
Tours livres of France, of which 10,000,000 shall be in the 
course of the month of March and 5,000,000 in the course of 
the following April. 



53. Law upon British Products, 

October 31, 1796 (10 Brumaire, Year V). Duvergier, Lois, IX, 
210-213. 

This document has a double interest. It shows one of the 
methods employed by the directory in the war against England 
and it contains the germ of that policy which Napoleon subse- 
quently developed into the continental system. The states de- 
pendent upon France were easily induced to adopt similar meas- 
ures. 

Refbhexces. Rose. Napoleon, I. 134-137 and English Histor- 
ical Review, VIII, 704-725 ; Sloane, Napoleon, II, 95-96 ; Mahan, 
Sea Power and French Revolution, II, 248-251. 

1. The importation of manufactured merchandise, the 
product of English manufacture or commerce, is prohibited, 
both by land and by sea, within the entire extent of the French 
Republic. 

2. No vessel loaded in whole or in part with the said 
merchandise shall enter into the ports of the Republic under 
any pretext whatsoever, on penalty of being seized immediate- 
ly; saving, nevertheless, the application of the law of 23 
Brumaire, Year III, in the cases for which it has provided. 

5. Whatever may have been their origin, the following ar- 
ticles imported from abroad- are reputed to be the product of 
English manufactures : 

1st. Every kind of cotton velvet and all fabrics and 
cloths of wool, cotton and hair or mixtures of these materials ; 
every sort of piques, dimities, nankinettes and muslinettes : 
woolen, cotton and hair thread and the carpets called English ; 

2d. Every kind of hosiery, cotton or wool, single 01 
mixed ; 

3d. Buttons of every kind ; 

4th. Every sort of plate, all products in fine hardware, 
cutlery, toys, clock-making, and other products in iron, steel, 
copper, brass, cast-iron, sheet-iron, tin, or other metals, pol- 
ished or not polished, pure or mixed ; 



Convention with Genoa 259 

5th. Hides tanned, curried or prepared, worked up or 
not worked up ; carriages, set up or not set up, harness and all 
other articles of harness-making; 

6th. Ribbons, hats, veils and shawls known under the 
denomination of English ; 

7th. Every sort of skin for gloves, small-clothes, and 
waistcoats, and these same articles manufactured ; 

8th. Every kind of glass ware and crystal other than the 
glasses serving for the making of spectacles and in watch- 
making ; 

9th. Refined sugars, in lump or in powder; 

lOth. Every kind of faience or pottery known under the 
denomination of earthen or stone ware of England. 

6. Dating from the publications of the law, it is forbidden 
to all persons to sell or expose for sale any article the prod- 
uct of English manufactures or commerce, and to all printers 
to print any notice which may announce these sales. 



54. Secret Convention with Genoa. 

June 5 and 6, 1797 (17 find 18 Prairial, Year V). De Clereq, 
TraiUs, XV, 138-140. 

The ancient and oligarchical Republic of Genoa was one of the 
Italian states revolutionized by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1796-7. 
The revolution was effected through this document. From it the 
character of the new government and its relationship to France 
can be seen. In both respects it is typical for all of the republics 
established at that time by the French in Italy. 

References. Rose, Napoleon, I, 134-137 ; Sloane, Napoleon, II, 
7 : Lanfrej , Napoleon, I, 204-208 ; I.avisse and Rambaud, Histoire 
arncrale, VIII, 775-776 ; .Taures, Histoire nocialiste, V, 350, 394- 
395. 

The French. Republic and the Republic of Genoa, wishing 
to consolidate the union and harmony which of all time has 
existed between them, and the government of Genoa believing 
that the welfare of the Genoese nation, in the present circum- 
stances, requires that it should return to her the deposit of 
the sovereignty of the nation, with which it has been en- 
trusted, the French Republic and the Republic of Genoa have 
agreed upon the following articles : 

I. The government of the Republic of Genoa recognizes 
that the sovereignty resides in the body of all the citizens 
of the Genoese territory. 



26o Convention with Genoa 

2. The legislative power shall be confided to two repre- 
sentative councils, one of 300, the other of 150 members. The 
executive power shall be the attribute of a senate of twelve 
members presided over by a Doge. The Doge and the sen- 
ators shall be selected by the two councils. 

3. Each commune shall have a municipality, each district 
an administration. 

4. The methods of election of all the authorities, the cir- 
cumscription of the districts, the portion of authority entrusted 
to each body, the organization of the judicial power and ol 
the military forces, shall be determined by a legislative com- 
mission, which shall be charged to draw up the constitution 
and all the organic laws of the government, having care in 
this to do nothing which may be contrary to the catholic 
religion, to guarantee the consolidated debts, to preserve the 
free port of the city of Genoa, the bank of St. George, and to 
take measures that there may be provision, as far as means 
will permit it, for the maintenance of the poor nobles now 
living. 

This commission shall be obliged to complete its work 
within a month, counting from the day of its formation. 

. 5. The people finding themselves replaced in possession 
of their rights, every kind of privilege or particular organ- 
ization which breaks up the unity of the state finds itself nec- 
essarily dissolved. 

6. The provisional government shall be confided to a 
commission of government composed of 22 members, presided 
over by the present Doge, which shall be installed on the 
I4tli of the present month of June, 26 Prairial, Year V of 
the French Republic. 

7. The citizens who shall be called upon to compose the 
provisional government of the Republic of Genoa cannot re- 
fuse these functions without being considered as indifferent to 
the safety of the fatherland and condemned to a fine of two 
thousand crowns. 

8. As soon as the provisional government shall be con- 
stituted, it shall determine the necessary rules for the manner 
of its deliberations. It shall select, within the week of its 
installation, the legislative commission charged to draw up 
the constitution. 



Treaty of Campo Formio 261 

9. The provisional government shall provide for the just 
indemnities due to the French who were plundered on the 
days of 3 and 4 Prairial (May 22 and 23.) 

10. The French Republic, wishing to give a proof of the 
interest which it takes in the welfare of the people of Genoa, 
and desiring to see them united and exempt from factions, 
grants an amnesty to all the Genoese of whom it had occasion 
to make complaint, whether by reason of 3 and 4 Prairial 
or by occasion of the various events which occurred within 
the imperial fiefs. 

The provisional government shall show the most lively 
solicitude to extinguish all the factions, to unite all the citi- 
zens, and to imbue them with the need of uniting about the 
public liberty, granting for this purpose a general amnesty. 

11. The French Republic shall grant to the Republic of 
Genoa protection and, likewise, the aid of its armies, in order 
to facilitate, if it be necessary, the execution of the said ar- 
ticles, and to maintain the integrity of the territory of the 
Republic of Genoa. 



55. Treaty of Campo Formio. 

October 17, 1797 (26 Vendemiaire, Year VI). De Clercq, 
TraiUs, I, 335-343. 

This treaty terminated the war against Austria begun in 1792. 
It left France at war only with England. The new boundaries of 
France, the changes in Italy, and the arrangements for the reor- 
ganization of Germany are the features of the treaty of most im- 
portance. 

Rbfeebnces. Fyffe, Modern Europe, I, 146-1.51 (Popular ed- 
ition, 98-101); Fournier, Napoleon. 99-100, 108-110; Rose, Na^ 
'poleon, I, 128-130, 155-157 ; Sloane, Napoleon, II, 12-16 ; Lanfrey. 
Napoleon, I, Ch. ix ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire gvnerulc, 
VIII, 439-440 ; .Taures, Histoire socialiste, V, 391-399. 

Maps. Droysen, Historischer Hand-Atlas, 48 ; Schrader, Atlas 
de geographie historique, 48 ; Vidal-Lablache, Atlas general, 40. 

His Majesty the Emperor of the Romans, King of Hun- 
gary and of Bohemia, and the French Republic, wishing to 
consolidate the peace of which the foundations were laid in 
the preliminaries signed at the chateau of Ekenwald near Leo- 
ben in Styria, April 18, 1797 (29 Germinal, Year V, of the 



262 Treaty of Campo Formio 

French Republic, one and indivisible), have appointed for 
their plenipotentiaries, to wit: 

I. There shall be for the future and forever a firm and 
inviolable peace between His Majesty the Emperor of the 
Romans, King of Hungary and of Bohemia, his heirs and 
successors, and the French Republic. 

3. His Majesty the Emperor, King of Hungary and of Bo- 
hemia, renounces for himself and his successors, in favor of 
the French Republic, all his rights and titles to the former 
Belgic Provinces, known under the name of the Austrian Lozv 
Countries. The French Republic shall possess these coun- 
tries forever, in complete sovereignty and proprietorship, and 
with all the territorial advantages which result therefrom. 

5. His Majesty the Emperor, King of Hungary and of Bo- 
hemia, consents that the French Republic possess in com- 
plete sovereignty the former Venetian islands of the Levant, 
to wit : Corfu, Zante, Cephalonia, Santa Maura, Cerigo, and 
other islands dependent upon them, as well as Butrinto, Arta, 
Vonizza, and in general all the former Venetian establish- 
ments in Albania, which are situated below the Gulf of Drin. 

6. The French Republic consents that His Majesty the 
Emperor and King should possess in complete sovereignty 
and proprietorship the countries hereinafter designated, to wit: 
Istria, Dalmatia, the former Venetian islands of the Adriatic, 
the mouths of the Cattaro, the city of Venice, the lagnnes 
and countries included between the hereditary states of His 
Majesty the Emperor and King, the Adriatic sea, and a line 
which setting out from Tyrol shall follow the stream beyond 
Gardola, and shall cross the Lake of Garda, to Cise ; from' 
there a military line to San Giccomo, ofifering an equal ad- 
vantage to the two parties, which shall be marked out by 
engineering oflficers appointed by both parties before the ex- 
change of the ratifications of the present treaty. The line 
of limitation shall then pass the Adige at San Giocomo, shall 
follow the left bank of that river to the mouth of the Blanc 
canal, including the part of Porto Lignano which is upon 
the right bank of the Adige, with the district to a radius of 
three thousand toises. The line shall continue by the left 



Treaty of Campo Formio 263 

bank of the Blanc canal, the left bank of the Tartaro, the 
left bank of the canal called the Polisella to its juncture with 
the Po, and the left bank of the great Po to the sea. 

7. His Majesty the Emperor, King of Hungary and of 
Bohemia, renounces forever, for himself, his successors and 
assigns, in favor of the Cisalpine Republic, all rights and 
titles springing from these rights, which his said Majesty 
could lay claim to over the countries which he possessed be- 
fore the war, and which now make part of the Cisalpine 
Republic, which shall possess them in complete sovereignty 
and proprietorship, with all the territorial advantages which 
result therefrom. 

8. His Majesty the Emperor, King of Hungary and of 
Bohemia, recognizes the Cisalpine Republic as an independent 
power. 

18. His Majesty the Emperor, King of Hungary and of 
Bohemia, binds himself to cede to the Duke of Modena, as 
indemnity for the countries which that 'prince and his heirs 
had in Italy, the Breisgau, which he shall possess upon the 
same conditions as those in virtue of which he possessed Mo- 
dena. 

20. There shall be held at Rastadt a congress composed 
exclusively of the plenipotentiaries of the Germanic Empire 
and of those of the French Republic for the pacification be- 
tween these two powers. This shall be opened one month 
after the signature of the present treaty, or sooner if it is 
possible. 



Secret Articles. 

I. His Majesty the Emperor, King of Hungary and of 
Bohemia, consents that the limits of the French Repub'ic 
shall extend to the line designated below and pledges himself 
to use his good offices in order that, in establishing peace with 
the German Empire, the French Republic may obtain this 
same boundary, to wit : 

The left bank of the Rhine from the Swiss frontier below 
Basle to the confluence of the Nette above Andernach, in- 



264 Treaty of Campo Formio 

eluding the tete de Pont at Mannheim on the right bank of 
the Rhine and the town and fortress of Mainz, both banks of 
the Nette, from its mouth to its source near Bruch, froni 
here a lime passing through Senscherode and Borlei to Kerpen 
and from this town to Udelhofen, Blankenheim, Marmagen, 
Jactenigt, Cale and Gmiind, including the suburbs and sur- 
rounding districts of these places, then the two banks of the 
Olff to its junction with the Roer, the two banks of the 
Roer, including Heimbach, Niedeggen, Diiren, and Jiilich, with 
their suburbs and surrounding districts as well as the villages 
on the river and their surrounding districts as far as Limnich ; 
from here a line passing Roffems and Thalens, Dalen, Hilas 
Papdermod, Laterforst, Radenberg, Haversloo (if this lies 
upon the line), Anderheide, Kalderkirchen, Wambach, Her- 
ringen , and Grobray with the town of Venloo and its sur- 
rounding territory. If, in spite of the good offices of His 
Majesty the Emperor, King of Hungary and of Bohemia, the 
German Empire should not consent to the acquisition by the 
French Republic of the frontier aJbove indicated. His Majesty 
the Emperor and King formerly engages not to furnish more 
than his contingent to the army of the Empire, which may 
.not be employed in the fortresses without thereby interfering 
with the peace and amity just established between his said 
Majesty and the French Republic. 

2. His Majesty the Emperor, King of Hungary and of 
Bohemia, will further use his good offices at the time of the 
pacification with the German Empire : 

1st. In order that the navigation of the Rhine shall be 
free to the French Republic, and to the states of the Empire 
situated on the right bank of this river, from Hiiningen to 
the point where it reaches the Batavian Republic; 

2d. To arrange that the one in possession of that part of 
Germany opposite the mouth of the Moselle shall never upon 
any pretext whatsoever hinder the free navigation and exit 
of boats or other craft from the mouth of the river ; 

3d. That the French Republic shall enjoy the free nav- 
igation of the Meuse, and that all tolls and other dues which 
may be established from Venloo to the point where the river 
enters Batavian territory, shall be suppressed. 

3. His Majesty the Emperor and King, renounces, on his 



Treaty of Campo Formio 265 

own part and for his successors, the sovereignty over, and 
possession of, the county of Falkenstein and its dependencies, 
in favor of the French RepubHc. 

4. The territories which His Majesty the Emperor, King 
of Hungary and of Bohemia, is to possess in virtue of article 
VI of the open, definitive treaty signed this day, shall serve 
as an indemnity for those territories which he cedes by ar- 
ticles HI and VH of the open treaty and by the preceding 
article. This cession shall not, however, have force until the 
troops of His Majesty the Emperor and King shall occupy 
the territory acquired by the said article. 

5. The French Republic will employ its good offices in 
order that His Majesty the Emperor may acquire in Ger- 
many the archbishopric of Salzburg, and that portion of the 
circle of Bavaria situated between the archbishopric of Salz- 
burg, the rivers Inn and Salzach and Tyrol, including the city 
of Wasserburg on the right bank of the Inn, with the sur- 
rounding territory within a radius of 3,000 toises. 

6. His Majesty the Emperor and King agrees to cede 
to the French Republic, when peace shall be concluded with 
the Empire, the sovereignty and possession of the Frickthal. 
as well as all the possessions of the House of Austria on the 
left bank of the Rhine between Zurzach and Basle, provided 
that in the above-mentioned peace His Majesty shall obtain 
a proportionate compensation in Germany which shall be sat- 
isfactory. 

The French Republic shall unite the said districts to the 
Helvetian Republic, according to an arrangement to be made 
between the said countries, without prejudice, however, to 
His Majesty the Emperor and King, or to the Empire. 

7. It is understood between the two contracting powers 
that if, in arranging the pending peace with the German Em- 
pire, the French Republic shall make an acquisition in Ger- 
many, His Majesty the Emperor, King of Hungary and of 
Bohemia, shall obtain an equivalent there, and conversely if 
His Royal and Imperial Majesty make an acquisition of this 
kind, the French Republic shall similarly receive an equiv- 
alent. 

8. A territorial indemnity shall be given to the Prince of 
Nassau-Dietz, formerly Stadtholder of Holland, but this ter- 



266 Treaty of Campo Formio 

ritorial indemnity shall not be chosen in the neighborhood of 
the Austrian possessions nor of the Batavian Republic. 

g. The French Republic will find no trouble in restoring 
to the King of Prussia his possessions on the left bank ot 
the Rhine. Hence there will be no question of any new ac- 
quisitions on the part of the King of Prussia. To this the 
contracting parties mutually pledge themselves. 

10. If the King of Prussia consents to cede to the French 
Republic and to the Batavian Republic certain small portions 
of his possessions upon the left bank of the Meuse, as well as 
the enclave of Zevenaar and other possessions toward the 
Yssel, His Majesty the Emperor, King of Hungary and of 
Bohemia, will employ his good offices to render the said ces- 
sions practicable, and to cause them to be recognized by the 
German Empire. The failure to carry out the present article 
shall not affect the preceding one. 

ir. His Majesty the Emperor will not oppose the dispo- 
sition which the French Republic has made in favor of the 
Ligurian Republic of the imperial fiefs. His Majesty the 
Emperor will unite his efforts with those of the French Re- 
public to induce the German Empire to renounce such rights 
of suzerainty as it may have in Italy, especially over the 
districts which form a part of the Cisalpine and Ligurian 
republics, as well as over the imperial fiefs, such as Lusig- 
nana and all those lying between Tuscany and the possessions 
of Parma, the Ligurian and Luccan republics, and the former 
territory of Modena, the which fiefs shall form a part of the 
Cisalpine Republic. 

12. His Majesty th« Emperor, King of Hungary and of 
Bohemia, and the French Republic, will unite their efforts in 
order that, in negotiating peace with the German Empire, the 
different princes and states of the Empire which shall suffer 
losses of territory and of rights in consequence of the stipula- 
tions of the present treaty of peace, or later, in consequence 
of the treaty which shall be concluded with the German 
Empire, shall obtain appropriate indemnities in Germany: 
which indemnities shall be determined in common accord with 
the French Republic. This applies especially to the electors 
of Mainz, Trier and Cologne, the Elector Palatine of Bavaria, 
the Duke of Wiirtemburg and Teck, the Margrave of Baden, 



Law of Hostages 267 

the Duke of Zweibriicken, the Landgraves of Hesse-Cassel and 
of Hesse-Darmstadt, the Princes of Nassau-Saarbriicken, of 
Salm-Kryburg, Lowenstein-Wertheim and of Wiedrunkel and 
the Count of Leyen. 

13. The troops of His Majesty the Emperor shall evacuate 
within twenty days after the exchange of the ratifications of 
the present treaty, the city and fortress of Mainz, Ehrenbreit- 
stein, Phillippsburg, Mannheim, Konigsstein, Ulm and Ingol- 
stadt, as well as all the territory belonging to the Germanic 
Empire as far as his hereditary possessions. 

17. The present secret articles shall have the same force 
as if they were inserted word for word in the open treaty of 
peace signed to-day. These shall be ratified at the same time 
by the contracting parties and the acts of ratification shall be 
exchanged in due form at Rastadt. 



56. Law of Hostages. 

July 12, 1799 (24 Messidor, Year VII). Duvergier. Lois, XI, 
278-281. 

This document is the complement of No. .51. That shows ^vhat 
measures might be employed against certain classes of persona 
denominated public enemies ; this shows the measures which might 
be employed against regions where disturbances had occurred. 

Rkferexces. Cambridge Modern History, VIII, 670-671 : La- 
visse and Rambaud, Histoire yenerale, VIII, 397-398 ; Jaures, His- 
toire socialiste, V, 535-536. 

The Council of the Five Hundred, considering that it is 
time to take effective measures to arrest the progress of the 
system of assassination and brigandage organized at different 
points of the Republic against public functionaries, acquirers 
or possessors of national lands, and all citizens attached to 
the constitution of the Year HI, 

Approves the act of urgency and the following resolution : 

1. When a department, canton or commune is notoriously 
in a state of civil disturbance, the Executive Directory pro- 
poses to the legislative body to declare it included in the fol- 
lowing provisions. 

2. The kinsmen of cinign's, their relatives by marriage, 
and the former nobles included in the laws of 3 Brumaire, 



268 Brumaire Decree 

Year IV, and 9 Frimaire, Year VI, the grandfathers, grand- 
mothers, fathers and mothers of the persons who, without be- 
ing ex-nobles or kinsmen of emigres, are nevertheless noto- 
riously known as making up part of the gatherings or bands 
of assassins, are personally and civilly responsible for as- 
sassinations and acts of brigandage committed in the interior 
out of hatred of the Republic, in the departments, cantons and 
communes declared in a state of disturbance. 

3. Immediately after the publication of the law rendered 
in execution of article i, the central administrations shall take 
hostages within the classes above designated, in the communes, 
cantons and departments declared in a state of disturbance : 

9. If an assassination is committed upon a citizen who 
actually is or has been since the revolution a public function- 
ary, or defender of the fatherland, or acquirer or possessor of 
the national domains, the Executive Directory, after having 
consulted the central administrations, is charged to cause to 
be deported outside of the territory of the Republic within two 
decades of the assassination, four of the persons designated 
in article 2 for each person assassinated, taking in the first 
place from among the noble kinsmen of emigres, secondly 
from among the former nobles, and successively from among 
the kinsmen of persons taking part in the gatherings. 



57. The Brumaire Decree. 

November 10, 1799 (19 Brumaire, Year VIII) . Duvergier, Lois. 
XII, 1-2. 

By the coup d'etat of Brumaire the government of the Direc- 
tory was overthrown. This decree was passed by remnants of the 
councils of the Five Hundred and of the Ancients after the- dis- 
persion of those bodies. Thereby some semblance of legality was 
imparted to the coup d'4tat. 

Refeeences. Fyffe, Modern Europe, I, 197-207 (Popular ed., 
1.33-139) ; Cambridge Modern History, VIII, Ch. 22; Fournier, Kla- 
poleon. 16(i-]S2: Rose, Napoleon I, Ch. 's.; Sloaue, Napoleon, II, Chs. 
x-xi ; Lanfrpy. Nopnieon, I, Ch. xii ; Lavisse and Rambaud. Histoire 
generale, VIII, 403-411 ; Aulard, Revolution frangaise. Part III. 
Ch. v ; Jaures, Histoire socialiste, V, Ch. 22. 

The Council of the Five Hundred, considering the sit- 
uation of the Republic, approves the act of urgency and the 
following resolution : 



Brumaire Decree 269 

1. The Directory is no more, and the following named 
persons, owing to the excesses and the crimes in which they 
have constantly engaged, and especially as regards the ma- 
jority of them in the session of this morning, are no longer 
members of the national representation: . . . [Here 
follow the names of sixty-one persons.] 

2. The legislative body creates provisionally a consular 
executive commission, consisting of Citizens Sieyes, Roger- 
Ducos, and General Bonaparte, who shall bear the name of 
Consuls of the French Republic. 

3. This commission is invested with the plentitude of di- 
rectorial power and is particularly charged to organize order 
in all parts of the administration, to re-establish internal tran- 
quility, and to procure honorable and enduring peace. 

4. It is' authorized to send out delegates having powers 
which are fixed and are within the limits of its own [powers]. 

5. The legislative body adjourns to the following i 
Ventose [Feb. 20, 1800] ; it shall reassemble of full right 
upon that date in its palace at Paris. 

6. During the adjournment of the legislative body the ad- 
journed members preserve their indemnity and their consti- 
tutional guarantee. 

7. Without loss of their character as representatives of the 
people, they can be employed as ministers, diplomatic agents, 
delegates of the consular executive commission, and in all 
other civil functions. They are even invited in the name of 
the public welfare to accept these [employments]. 

8. Before its separation and d'.iring the sitting, each coun- 
cil shall appoint from its own body a commission consisting of 
twenty-five members. 

g. The commissions appointed by the two councils with 
the formal and requisite proposal of the consular executive 
commission, shall decide upon all urgent matters of police, 
legislation, and finance. 

10. The commission of the Five Hundred shall exercise 
the initiative ; the commission of the Ancients, the approval. 

11. The two commissions are further charged, in the same 
order of labor and co-operation, to prepare the changes to be 
brought about in the organic arrangements of the constitution 
of which experience has made known the faults and incon- 
veniences. 



270 Constitution of the Year VIII 

12. These changes shall have for their object only to con- 
solidate, guarantee, and consecrate inviolably the sovereignty 
of the French people, the republic one and indivisible, the rep- 
resentative system, the division of powers, liberty, equality, 
security and property. 

13. The consular executive commission can present its 
views to them in this respect. 

14. Finally, the two commissons are charged to prepare 
a civil code. 

15. They shall sit at Paris in the place of the legisla- 
tive body and they can convoke it in extraordinary session 
for the ratification of peace or in a great public danger, 

16'. The present [document] shall be printed, sent by ex- 
traordinary couriers into the departments, and solemnly pub- 
lished and posted in all the communes of the Republic. 

58. Constitution of the Year VIII. 

December 13, 1799. Duvergier, Lois, XII, 20-30. 

This constitution although nominally framed by the two legis- 
lative commissions appointed by No. 57 was actually imposed upor 
them by Napoleon Bonaparte. It was submitted to the people and 
accepted by over three million votes against about fifteen hun- 
dred. 

References. Fournier, Napoleon, 183-187 ; Dickinson, Revo- 
lution and Reaction in Modern Prance, 36-41 ; Rose, Napoleon, I, 
209-214 ; Sloane, Napoleon, II, 84-86 ; Lanfrey, Napoleon, I, Ch. 
XIII ; Camhridge Modern History, IX, 3-7; Lavisse and Rambaud, 
Histolre qene.rale, IX, ,512 ; Aulard, Revolution frangaise, 704-711 ; 
Jaurfes, Histoire socialiste, VI, 28-43. 

Constitution of the French Republic. 
Title I. Of the Exercise of the Rights of Citizenship. 

1. The French Republic is one and indivisible. 

Its European territory is divided into departments and 
communal districts. 

2. Every man born and residing in France fully twentyr 
one years of age, who has caused his narne to be inscribed 
upon the civic register of his communal district and has since 
lived for one year upon the soil of the Republic, is a French 
citizen. 

3. A foreigner becomes a French citizen when, after hav- 
ing .reached the full age of twenty-one years and having de- 



Constitution of the Year VIII 271 

clared his intention to settle in France, he has resided there 
for ten consecutive years. 

4. The title to French citizenship is lost: 
By naturalization in a foreign country; 

By the acceptance of appointments or pensions tendered 
by a foreign government; 

By affiliation with any foreign corporation which may 
imply distinctions of birth ; 

By condemnation to afflictive or infamous punishments. 

5. The exercise of the rights of French citizenship is sus- 
pended by the state of bankruptcy or of direct inheritance, 
with gratuitous title, to the succession, in whole or in part, 
of a bankrupt; 

By the condition of domestic service for wages, either for 
a person or a household; 

By the condition of judicial interdiction, of accusation, or 
of contempt of court. 

6. In order to exercise the rights of citizenship in a com- 
munal district, it is necessary to have acquired domicile there 
by one year of residence and not to have lost it by one year 
of absence. 

7. The citizens of each communal district designate by 
their votes those among them whom they believe the most fit 
to conduct public affairs. Thus the result is a list of the trust- 
worthy, containing a number of names equal to one-tenth of 
the number of citizens having the right to co-operate there. 
It is from this first communal list that the public function- 
aries of the district must be taken. 

S. The citizens included in the communal lists of a de- 
partment designate likewise a tenth of themselves. Thus there 
results a second list, known as the departmental list, from 
which the public functionaries of the department must be 
taken. 

9. The citizens comprised in the departmental list desig- 
nate in like manner a tenth of themselves: thus there results 
a third list which comprises the citizens of that department 
eligible to the national public functions. 

10. The citizens who have the right to co-operate in the 
formation of one of the lists mentioned in the three preceding 
articles, are called upon every three years to provide for re- 



272 Constitution of the Year VIII 

placing those of the enrolled who have died or are absent for 
any other cause than the exercise of a public function. 

11. They can, at the same time, remove from the lists the 
enrolled vv^hom they judge unfit to remain there, and replace 
them by other citizens in whom they have greater confidence. . 

12. No one is removed from a list except by the votes of 
the majority of the citizens who have the right to co-operate 
in its formation. 

13. No' one is removed from a list of eligibles by the mere 
fact that he is not kept upon another list of higher or super- 
ior degree. 

14. Inscription upon a list of eligibles is necessary only 
with reference to those of the public officers for which that 
condition is expressly required by the constitution or the law. 
The list of eligibles shall be formed for the first time during 
the course of the Year IX. 

Citizens who shall be selected for the first formation of the 
constituted authctities, shall form a necessary part of the first 
lists of eligibles. 

Title II. Of the Conservative Senate. 

15. The Conservative Senate is composed of eighty mem- 
bers, irremovable and for life, of at least forty years of age. 

P"or the formation of the Senate, there shall at first be 
chosen sixty members : that number shall be increased to 
sixty-two in the course of the Year VIII, to sixty-four in the 
Year IX, and it shall thus be gradually increased to eighty, by 
the addition of two members in each of the first ten years. 

16. Appointment to the place of senator is made by the 
Senate, which chooses among three candidates presented, the 
first by the Legislative Body, the second by the Tribunate, 
the third by the First Consul. 

It chooses between only two candidates if one of them is 
proposed by two of the three presenting authorities : it is 
required to admit that one who may be proposed at the same 
time by the three authorities. 

17. The First Consul, upon leaving his place, either by 
expiration of his office or by resignation, becomes a senator 
ipso facto and necessarily. 

The other two consuls, during the month following the 



Constitution of the Year VIII 273 

expiration of their duties, can take seats in the Senate, but 
they are not required to make use of this right. 

They do not have it if they leave their consular duties by 
resignation. 

18. A senator is forever ineligible to any other public 
ofifice. 

19. All the lists made in the departments, in virtue of 
article 9, are despatched to the Senate : they constitute the 
national list. 

20. It chooses from this list the legislators, the tribunes, 
the consuls, the judges of cassation, and the commissioners 
of accounts. 

21. It sustains or annuls all the acts which are referred to 
it as unconstitutional by the Tribunate or the government: 
the lists of eligibles are included among these acts. 

22. Fixed revenues from the national domains are set 
apart for the expenses of the Senate. The annual stipend 
of each of its members is taken from these revenues, and 
is equal to a twentieth of that of the First Consul. 

23. The sittings of the Senate are not public. 

24. Citizens Sieyes and Roger-Ducos, retiring consuls, are 
appointed members of the Conservative Senate : they shall join 
to themselves the second and third consuls appointed by the 
present constitution. These four citizens appoint the majority 
of the Senate, which then completes itself and proceeds to the 
elections that are entrusted to it. 

Title III. Of the Legislative Power, 

25. New laws shall be promulgated only when the pro- 
ject for them shall have been proposed by the government, 
communicated to the Tribunate, and decreed by the Legislative 
Body. 

26. The projects that the government proposes are drawn 
up in articles. In any stage of the discussion of these pro- 
posals, the government can withdraw them ; it can reproduce 
them in modified form. 

27. The Tribunate is composed of one hundred members, 
at least twenty-five years of age; they are renewed by a fifth 
each year and are indefinitely re-eligible as long as they re- 
main upon the national list. 



374 Constitution of the Year VIII 

28. The Tribunate discusses the projects for laws: it 
votes for their adoption or their rejection. 

It sends three orators taken from its own body, by whom 
the grounds for the view that it has taken upon each of 
these proposals are set forth and defended before the Legis- 
lative Body. 

It refers to the Senate, on account of unconstitutionality 
only, the lists of eligibles, the acts of the Legislative Body 
and those of the government. 

29. It expresses its opinion upon the laws made and to be 
made, the abuses to be corrected, and the improvements to 
be undertaken in all parts of the public administration, but 
never upon civil or criminal matters pending before the tri- 
bunals. 

The opinions that it expresses by virtue of the present ar- 
ticle have no necessary consequence and do not compel any 
constituted authority to a deliberation. 

30. When the Tribunate adjourns, it can appoint a com- 
mission of from ten to fifteen of its members, charged to con- 
voke it if it deems expedient. 

31. The Legislative Body is composed of three hundred 
members of at least thirty years of age ; they are renewed 
each year by a fifth. 

It must always contain at least one member from each de- 
partment of the Republic. 

32. A member retiring from the Legislative Body cannot 
re-enter it until after an interval of one year ; but he can be 
immediately elected to any other public office, including that of 
tribune, if he is otherwise eligible to it. 

33. The session of the Legislative Body commences each 
year upon i Frimaire, and continues only four months ; it can 
be convoked in extraordinary session during the other eight 
months by the government. 

34. The Legislative Body makes a law by deciding through 
secret ballot, an(J without any discussion on the part of its 
members, upon the projects of law discussed before it by the 
orators of the Tribunate and the government. 

35. The sittings of the Tribunate and those of the Legis- 
lative Body are public ; the number of spectators at either of 
them cannot exceed two hundred. 



Constitution of the Year VIII 275 

36. The annual stipend of a tribune is fifteen thousand 
francs ; that of a legislator, ten thousand francs. 

2,7. Every decree of the Legislative Body is promulgated 
by the First Consul the tenth day after its passage unless with- 
in that period it has been referred to the senate upon the 
ground of unconstitutionality. This recourse cannot be taken 
against promulgated laws. 

38. The first renewal of the Legislative Body and of the 
Tribunate shall take place only in the course of the Year X. 

Title IV. Of the Government. 

39. The government is confided to thre^e Consuls appointed 
for ten years and indefinitely re-eligible. 

Each of them is elected individually with the distinguishing 
title of First, Second or Third Consul. 

The constitution appoints as First Consul, Citizen Bona- 
parte, former provisional consul ; as Second Consul, Citizen 
Cambaceres, former minister of justice; and as Third Consul, 
Citizen Lebrun, former member of the commission of the 
Council of Ancients. 

For this time the Third Consul is appointed only for five 
years. 

40. The First Consul has special duties and prerogatives 
in which he is temporarily replaced by one of his colleagues, 
when there is need. 

41. The First Consul promulgates the laws; he appoints 
and dismisses at will the members of the Council of State, 
the ministers, the ambassadors and other foreign agents of 
high rank, the officers of the army and navy, the members 
of the local administrations, and the commissioners of the 
government before the tribunals. He appoints all criminal 
and civil judges, other than the justices of the peace and the 
judges of cassation, without power to remove them. 

42. In the other acts of the government, the Second and 
Third Consuls have a consultative voice : they sjgn the register 
of these acts in order to attest their presence; and if they 
wish, they there record their opinions : after that the decision 
of the First Consul suffices. 

43. The stipend of First Consul shall be five hundred 
thousand francs in the Year VIII. The stipend of each of the 



276 Constitution of the Year VIII 

other two consuls is equal to three-tenths of that of the Firsc 
Consul. 

44. The government proposes the laws and makes the reg- 
ulations necessary to secure their execution. 

45. The government controls the receipts and expenses of 
the state in conformity with the annual law which fixes the 
amount of both of them ; it superintends the coinage of money, 
of which the law alone orders the emission and fixes the de- 
nomination, weight, and stamp. 

46. If the government is informed that some conspiracy is 
laid against the state, it can issue decrees of apprehension and 
arrest against the persons who are supposed to be the authors 
or accomplices of it ; but if, within a period of ten days after 
their arrest, they are not set at liberty or put upon trial, the 
minister who signed the decree has committed the crime of 
arbitrary imprisonment. 

47. The government provides for the internal security and 
the external defence of the state; it distributes the land and 
sea forces and controls their direction. 

48. The active national guard is subject to the rules of the 
public administration : the reserve national guard is subject 
only to the law. 

49. The government has charge of the foreign political 
relations, conducts negotiations, makes preliminary stipula- 
tions, signs and causes to be signed and concluded all treaties 
of peace and alliance, truce, neutrality, commerce, and other 
conventions. 

50. Declarations of war and treaties of peace, alliance, and 
commerce are proposed, discussed, decreed, and promulgated 
as are the laws. 

Blit the discussions and deliberations upon these matters, 
in the Tribunate as well as in the Legislative Body, take place 
in secret committee when the government demands it. 

51. The secret articles of a treaty cannot be destructive of 
the open articles. 

52. Under the direction of the consuls, a council of state 
is charged with drawing up projects of law and regulations of 
public administration, and with the settlement of difficulties 
which arise in administrative matters. 

53. The orators charged to take the word, in the name of 
the government, before the Legislative Body, are always 



Constitution of the Year VIII 277 

taken from among the members of the Council of State. 

These orators are never sent to the number of more than 
three for the defence of a single project of law. 

54. The ministers procure the execution of the laws and 
regulations of public administration. 

55. No edict of the government can have effect unless it 
is signed by a minister. 

56. One of the ministers is especially charged with the ad- 
ministration of the public treasury : he provides for the secur- 
ity of the receipts, and orders the transfer of funds and the 
payments authorised by law. He cannot make any payment 
except in virtue of: ist, a law, and to the amount of the funds 
which it has fixed for that kind of expenses ; 2d, an order of 
the government ; 3d, a warrant signed by a minister. 

57. The detailed accounts of the expenses of each minister, 
signed and certified by him, are made public. 

58. The government can select or retain as councillors of 
state and as ministers, only the citizens whose names are en- 
rolled upon the national list. 

59. The local administrations established either for each 
communal district or for more extended portions of territory 
are subondihate to the ministers. No one can become or re- 
main a member of these administrations unless he is placed or 
kept upon one of the lists mentioned in articles 7 and 8. 

Title V. Of the Tribunals. 

60. Each communal district has one or more justices of 
the peace, elected directly by the citizens for three years." 

Their principal duty consists in conciliating the parties, 
whom they urge, in case of non-conciliation, to get judgment 
by arbitrators. 

61. In civil matters there are tribunals of first instance and 
tribunals of appeal. The law determines the organization of 
each of them, their competency, and the territory forming the 
jurisdiction of each. 

62. In criminal matters involving afflictive or ignominious 
punishments, a first jury accepts or rejects the accusation: 
if it is accepted, a second jury passes upon the facts, and the 
judges forming a criminal tribunal impose the penalty. Their 
judgment is without appeal. 

63. The duty of public prosecution before a criminal tri- 



278 Constitution of the Year VIII 

bunal is performed by the commissioner of the government. 

64. Crimes that do not involve afflictive or ignominious 
punishments are tried by tribunals of correctional police, sub- 
ject to appeal to the criminal tribunals. 

65. There is for the whole Republic a tribunal of cassa- . 
tion, which passes upon the appeals in cassation against the 
judgments rendered in the last resort by the tribunals, upon 
applications for the removal from one tribunal to another on 
account of legitimate suspicion or public security, and upon 
complaints of prejudice against a whole tribunal. 

66. The tribunal of cassation does not take cognizance of 
the facts of actions; but it quashes the judgments rendered 
upon proceedings in which the forms have been violated, or 
which contain some express contravention of the law ; and 
it sends back the facts of the action of the tribunal which 
ought to have jurisdiction thereon. 

67. • The judges composing the tribunals of first instance 
and the commissioners of the government assigned to these 

'tribunals, are taken from the communal list or the depart- 
mental list. 

The judges constituting the tribunals of appeal and the 
commissioners placed with them are taken from the depart- 
mental list. 

The judges composing the tribunal of cassation and thj 
commissioners assigned to that tribunal, are taken from the 
national list. 

68. The "judges, other than the justices of the peace, keep 
their offices for life unless they should be condemned to for- 
feiture or should not be kept upon the lists of eligibles. 

Title VI. Of the Responsibility of the Public 
Functionaries. 

6g. The positions of members of the Senate, Legislative 
Body, Tribunate, and those of the consuls and the councillorj 
of state do not give occasion for any responsibility. 

70. Personal crimes involving afflictive r or ignominious 
punishments, committed by a member of the Senate, Trib- 
unate, Legislative Body, or Council of State, are prosecuted 
before the ordinary tribunals only after a decision of the 
body to which the accused belongs has authorised that pros- 
ecution. 



Constitution of the Year VIII 279 

71. Ministers accused of private crimes involving afflictive 
or ignominious punishment are considered as members of the 
Council of State. 

72. The ministers are responsible: ist, for every act of the 
government signed by them and declared unconstitutional by 
the Senate; 2d, for the non-execution of the laws and regula- 
tions of the public administration ; 3d, for the special orders 
which they have given, if these orders are contrary to the con- 
stitution, the laws, or the regulations. 

TZ- III the case of the preceding article, the Tribunate ac- 
cuses the minister by an act upon which the Legislative Body 
deliberates in the usual forms, after having heard or sum- 
moned the accused. The minister placed on trial by a de- 
cree of the Legislative Body is tried by a high court, without 
appeal and without recourse in cassation. 

The high court is composed of judges and jurors. The 
judges are chosen by the tribunal of cassation and from its 
own body; the jurors are taken from the national list: the 
whole following the forms which the law determines. 

74. Civil and criminal judges are pro.^ecuted for crimes 
connected with their duties before the tribunals to which that 
of cassation sends them, after having annulled their acts. 

75. The agents of the government, other than the min- 
isters, cannot be prosecuted for acts relating to their duties 
except by virtue of a decision of the Council of State ; in that 
case the prosecution takes place before the ordinary tribunals. 

Title VII. General Provisions. 

'jd. The house of every person dwelling upon French soil 
is an inviolable asylum. 

During the night no one has the right to enter it except in 
case of fire, inundation, or a call coming from the interior of 
the house. 

During the day it can be entered for a special purpose, de- 
termined either by law or by an order issued by a public 
authority. *; 

'J']. Li order that the instrument which orders the arrest 
of a person may be executed, it is necessary: ist, that it set 
forth explicitly the ground for the arrest and the law in ex- 
ecution of which it is ordered; 2d, that it be issued by an 
official to whom the law has explicitly given that power; 3d, 



28o Constitution of the Year VIII 

that it be made known to the person arrested and that he be 
provided with a copy of it. 

78. A warden or jailer cannot receive or detain any per- 
son except after having copied upon his register the docu- 
ment whicli orders the arrest : this docurhent must be a war- 
rant given in the forms prescribed by the preceding article, 
or an order of arrest, or a decree of accusation, or a judgment. 

79. Every warden or jailer is required, without any or- 
der being able to dispense therewith, to present the arrested 
person to the civil officer having in charge the police of the 
prison, whenever he shall be required to do so by that officer. 

80. The production of the arrested person cannot be re- 
fused to his kinsmen and friends bearing the order of the civil 
officer, who shall always be required to grant it, unless the 
warden or jailer presents an order of the judge to keep the 
person in secret. 

81. All those who, not having received from the law the 
power to make arrests, shall cause, sign or execute the arrest 
of any person; all those who, even in cases of arrests author- 
ised by law. shall receive or retain the arrested person in a 
place of confinement not publicly and legally designated as 
such ; and all the wardens or jailers who shall contravene the 
provisions of the three preceding articles, shall be guilty of 
the crime of arbitrary imprisonment. 

82.' All severities employed in arrests, imprisonments or 
executions, other than those authorised by the laws, are 
crimes. 

83. Any person has the right to present individual peti- 
tions to any constituted authority, and especially to the Trib- 
unate. 

84. The public force is essentially obedient; no armed 
body can deliberate. 

85. Military offences are subject to special tribunals and 
to special forms of trial. 

86. The French nation declares that pensions shall be 
granted to all soldiers wounded in the defence of the father- 
land, as well as to the widows and children of soldiers dying 
upon the battlefield or from the effects of their wounds. 

87. National rewards shall be conferred upon the war- 
riors who shall have rendered distinguished services in fight- 
ing for the Republic. 



Constitution of the Year VIII 281 

88. A national institute is charged with the collection of 
the discoveries and the improvement of the sciences and the 
arts. 

89. A commission of national book-keeping regulates and 
verifies the accounts of the receipts and expenditures of the 
Republic. This commission is composed of seven members 
chosen by the Senate from the national list. 

90. A constituted body can deliberate only in a sitting 
when at least two-thirds of the members are present. 

91. The form of government of the French colonies is 
determ.ined by special laws. 

92. In case of rebelHon by armed force or of disturbances 
that threaten the security of the state, the law can suspend 
in the places and for the time which it determines, the author- 
ity of the constitution. 

This suspension can be declared provisionally, in the same 
cases, by an order of the government, the Legislative Body 
being on vacation, provided that this body be convoked within 
the shortest possible time by an article of the same order. 

93. The French nation declares that in any case it will 
not permit the return of the French, who, having abandoned 
their fatherland since July 14, 1789, are not included in the 
exceptions allowed by the laws made against the emigres; it 
forbids any nev/ exception upon this matter. 

The goods of the emigres are irrevocably acquired for the 
profit of the Republic. 

94. The French nation declares that after a legally con- 
summated sale of national lands, whatever be the cause there- 
of, the lawful purchaser cannot be dispossessed thereof, re- 
serving to their claimants, if there is need, indemnification by 
the public treasury. 

95. The present constitution shall be offered immediately 
for the acceptance of the French people. 



59. Order for Suppressing the Newspapers. 

Januarv 17. 1800 (27 NiTose. Year VIII). Moniteur, January 
19, 1800 (29 Nivose, Year VIII). 

Shortly after the Constitution of the Year VIII went into effect 
the First Consul began a series of vigorous measures against pos- 
sible oppositon to his rule. This document is typical of the se- 
ries. 



282 Order Suppressing Newspapers 

Refeeexcbs. Canibridge Modern History, IX, 14-15 ; Fournier, 
'Napoleon, 238 ; Sloane, Napoleon, II, 96 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, 
Histoire generale, IX, 15-16 : Aulard, Revolution frangatse, 714- 
716 ; Jaures, Histoire socialiste, VI, 55-57. 

The consuls of the Republic, considering that a part of the 
newspapers which are printed in the department of the Seine 
are instruments in the hands of the enemies of the Republic ; 
that the government is particularly charged by the French 
people to look after their security, orders as follows : 

1. The minister of police shall permit to be printed, pub- 
lished, and circulated during the whole course of the war only 
the following newspapers : . . . [Here follows the names 
of thirteen newspapers], and newspapers devoted exclusively 
to science, arts, literature, commerce, announcements and no- 
tices. 

2. The minister of the general police shall immediately 
make a report upon all the newspapers that are printed in 
the other departments. 

3. The minister of the general police shall see that no new 
newspaper be printed iri the department of the Seine, as well 
as in all the other departments of the Republic. 

4. The proprietors and editors of the newspapers pre- 
served by the present order shall present themselves to the 
minister of the police in order to attest their character as 
French citizens, their residences and signatures, and they shall 
promise fidelity to the constitution. 

5. All newspapers which shall insert articles opposed to 
the respect that is due to the social compact, to the sover- 
eignty of the people and the glory of the armies, or which 
shall publish invectives against the governments and nations 
who are the friends or allies of the Republic, even when these 
articles may be extracts from foreign periodicals, shall be 
immediately suppressed. 

6. The minister of the general police is charged with the 
execution of the present order, which shall be inserted in the 
Bulletin of the Laws. 



Administrative System Law 283 

60. Law for Reorganizing the Administrative 
System. 



February 17, 1800 (28 PluviSse, Year VIII). Duvergier, Lois, 
XII, 78-116. 

This was a sort of organic act upon the administrative system. 
It deserves careful attention for three reasons: (1) the system 
here established has been one of the most substantial of Napoleon's 
institutions, existing to the present day with but little change ; 
(2) under all French governments the administrative system is 
one of the most important features ; (3) political scientists are 
now giving more attention to administration than ever before. 
This document may be profitably compared with No. 7. 

Rbfekbnces. Dickinson, Revolution and Reaction in Modern 
France, 41-42 ; Cambridge Modern Historij, IX, 11-13 ; Fournier, 
Napoleon, 223-225 ; Rose, Napoleon, I, 246-249 ; Sloane, Napoleon, 
II, 139-140 : Lanfrey, Napoleon, I, 436-441 : Rambaud, Civilisation 
contcmporaine. 69-72 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire generale, IX, 
16-18 ; Aulard, Revolution frangaise, 716-719 ; Jaures, Histoire 
sociali-ste, VI, 57-60. 

Title I. Division of the Territory. 

I. The European territory of the Republic shall be divided 
into departments and communal districts, in conformity with 
the table annexed to the present law. [This table made but 
one change in the existing departments.] 



Title 11. Administration. 

Section I. Department administration. 

2. There shall be in each department a prefect, a council 
of prefecture, and a department general council, which shall 
discharge the functions now performed by the administrations 
and department commissioners. • ' " 

[The remainder of the article provides for the number of 
members in the councils of prefecture and the department gen- 
eral councils. The former have three, four, or five members ; 
the latter have sixteen, twenty, or twenty- four members.] 

3. The prefect alone shall be charged with the adminis- 
tration. 

4. The council of prefecture shall pronounce : 

Upon the requests of individuals seeking to obtain the dis- 
charge or the reduction of their share of the direct taxes ; 
Upon disputes' which may arise between the contractor'; 



284 Administrative System Law 

for public works and the administration over the meaning 
or execution of articles in their contracts ; 

Upon the claims of individuals wrho shall complain of 
injuries and damages proceeding from the personal acts of 
the contractors and not the acts of the administration ; 

Upon requests and contests over indemnities due to indi- 
viduals by reason of lands taken or excavated for the making 
of roads, canals, and other public works ; 

Upon disputes which may arise in the matter of the 
great highway commission ; 

Upon requests which shall be presented by city, town or 
village communities to be authorised to litigate ; 
_ Finally, upon litigation over the national lands. • — 

5. When the prefect shall attend the council of prefecture, 
he shall preside ; in case of equal division, he shall have the 
casting vote. 

6. The department general council shall meet each year : 
the time of its meeting shall be determined by the govern- 
ment; the duration of its session cannot exceed fifteen days. 

It shall appoint one of its members for president, another 
for secretary. 

It shall make the division of the direct taxes among the 
communal districts of the department. • . <■ - ^__ i 

It shall decide upon the requests for reductions made by 
the councils of the districts, cities, towns, and villages. 

It shall determine, within the limits fixed by the law, the 
.number of additional centimes, the imposition of which shall 
be requested for the expenses of the department. 

It shall hear the annual account which the prefect shall 
render of the employment of the additional centimes which 
shall have been set aside for these expenses. 

It shall express its opinion upon the condition and the 
needs of the department and shall address it to the minister of 
the interior. 

7. A general secretary for the prefecture shall have the 
custody of the papers and shall sign the documents. 

Section II. Communal administration. 

8. In each communal district there shall be a sub-prefect 
and a district council composed of eleven members. 

9. The sub-prefect shall discharge the functions now per- 
formed by the municipal administrations and the cantonal 



Administrative System Law 285 

commissioners, with the exception of those which are as- 
signed hereafter to the district council and the municipahties 

10. The district council shall meet each year: the time 
of its meeting shall be determined by the government ; the du- 

' ration of its session cannot exceed fifteen days. > ' ' 

It shall appoint one of its members for president and an- 
other for secretary. 

It shall make the division of the direct taxes' among the 
cities, towns, and villages of the district. . . ■ . 

It shall give its opinion, with a statement of reasons, upon 
the requests for discharge which shall be formulated by the 
cities, towns and villages. 

It shall hear the annual account which the sub-prefect 
shall render of the employment of the additional centimes set ' 
apart for the expenses of .the district. 

It shall express an opinion upon the condition and the 
needs of the district and shall address it to the prefect. 

11. In the communal districts in which the head-town of 
the department shall be situated, there shall not be any sub- 
prefect.' 

Section III. Municipalities. 

12. In the cities, towns, and other places for which there 
are now a municipal agent and deputy, and ' whose popula- 
tion shall not exceed two thousand five hundred inhabitants, 
there shall be a mayor /and a deputy; in the cities or towns 
of two thousand five hundred to five thousand inhabitants, a 
mayor and two deputies ; in the cities of five thousand to 
ten thousand inhabitants, a mayor, two deputies, and a com- 
missioner of police ; in the cities whose population shall ex- 
ceed ten thousand inhabitants, besides the mayor, two dep- 
uties and a commissioner of police, there shall be a deputy 
for each twenty thousand inhabitants in excess and a coni- 
missio.ner for each ten thousand in excess. 

13. The mayors and deputies shall discharge the admin- 
istrative functions now performed by the municipal agent 
and the deputy : in relation to the police and the civil state, 
they shall discharge the functions now performed by the mu- 
nicipal administrations of the canton, the municipal agents, 
and the, deputies. 

14. In the cities of one hundred thousand inhabitants 
and upwards, there shall be a mayor and a deputy in the 



-1 

I 



286 Administrative System Law 

place of each municipal administration ; there shall be in 
addition a commissioner-general of police, to whom the com- 
missioners of police shall be subordinate, and who shall be 
subordinate to the prefect : nevertheless, he shall execute the 
orders which he shall receive directly from the minister in 
charge of the police. 

15. There shall be a municipal council in each city, town, 
or other place for which there is now a municipal agent and a 
deputy. • " '■ 

The number of its members shall be ten in the places 
whose population does not exceed two thousand five hun- 
dred inhabitants ; twenty, in those in which it does not exceed 
five thousand; thirty, in those in which the population is 
' more numerous. 

This council shall meet each ,year on 15 Pluviose and 
can remain in session fifteen days. ■ > 

It can be assembled extraordinarily by order of the pre- 
fect. 

It shall hear and can discuss the account of the mu- 
nicipal receipts and expenditures which shall be rendered by 
the mayorAo the sub-prefect, who shall determine it defini- 
tively. 

It shall control the division of the common woods, pas- 
tures, harvests, and fruits. 

It shall regulate the division of labor necessary for the 
maintenance and repair of the property which is under the 
control of the inhabitants. 

It shall deliberate upo.n the particular and local needs of 
the municipality, the loans, the octrois or taxes of additional 
centimes which may be necessary in order to supply these 
needs, and the lawsuits which it shall be expedient to insti- 
tute or sustain for the exercise and preservation of the com- 
mon rights. 

16. At Paris, in each of the municipal districts, a mayor 
and two deputies shall be charged with the administrative 
part and with the functions relative to the civil state. 

A prefect of police shall be charged with what concerns 
the police and shall have under his orders commissioners dis- 
tributed in the twelve municipalities. 

17. At Paris the department council shall discharge the 
functions of municipal council. 



Administrative System Law 287 

Section IV. Of the appointments. 

18. The First Council shall appoint the prefects, the coun- 
cillors of prefecture, the members of the general councils of 
the departments, the general secretary for the prefecture, the 
sub-prefects, the members of the district councils, the mayors 
and deputies of the cities of more than five thousand inhab- 
itants, the commissioners-general of police and prefects of 
poHce in the cities in which they shall be established. 

19. The members of the general councils of departments 
and those of the councils of the communal districts shall be 
appointed for three years : they can be continued. 

20. The prefects shall appoint and can suspend from their 
functions the members of the municipal councils; they shall 
appoint and can suspend the mayors and deputies in cities 
whose population is less than five thousand inhabitants. The 
members of the municipal councils shall be appointed for three 
years : they can be continued. 

Section V. Of the salaries. 

21. In the cities whose population does not exceed fifteen 
thousand inhabitants, the salary of the prefect shall be eight 
thousand francs ; 

In those of fifteen to thirty thousand inhabitants, it shall 
be twelve thousand francs ; 

In those of thirty to forty-five thousand inhabitants, it 
shall be sixteen thousand francs ; 

In those of forty-five thousand to one hundred thousand, 
it shall be twenty thousand francs ; 

In those of one hundred thousand and upwards, twenty- 
four thousand francs. 

At Paris it shall be thirty thousand francs. 

22. The salary of the councillors for the prefecture shall 
be m each department one-tenth of that of the prefect ; it shall 
be twelve hundred francs in the departments in which the 
salary of the prefect shall be only eight thousand francs. 

23. The salary of the sub-prefects in the cities whose pop- 
ulation shall exceed twenty thousand inhabitants shall be four 
thousand francs, and three thousand francs in the others. 

24. The government shall fix for each department the 
amount of the office expenses which shall be used for the ad- 
ministration. 



288 Judicial System Law 

[The table of the departments and communal districts is 
omitted.] 



61. Law for Reorganizing the Judicial System. 

March 18, 1800 (27 Ventose, Year VIII). Duvergier, Lois, XII, 
151-163. 

By this measure Napoleon introduced some important changes 
in the judicial system of France and gave it substantially the 
form which it has borne ever since. 

References. Dickinson, Revolution and Reaction in Modern 
France, 44-45 ; Lanfrey, Napoleon, I, 441-446. 

For an adequate idea of what Napoleon did in the way of ju- 
dicial reform his codification of French law must also be noticed. 
This cannot be shown here by documents, but some of the follow- 
ing acounts of it should be read : Dickinson, Revolution and Re- 
action in Modern France, 46 ; Fyffe, Modern Europe, I, 258-260 
(Popular ed., 173-175;) : Cambridge Modern History, IX, Ch. vi; 
Fournier, Napoleon. 230-232 ; Rose, Napoleon, I, 265-271 ; Sloane, 
Napoleon, II, 142-144 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire g6nerale, 
IX, 241-248. 

Title I. General Provisions. 

1. The department civil and criminal tribunals and the 
tribunals of correctional police are suppressed ; nevertheless, 
they shall continue their functions until the installation of the 
new tribunals. 

2. There is nothing changed, however, in the laws con- 
cerning the justices of the peace and the commercial judges, 
who shall continue to exercise their functions until it has 
been otherwise ordered. 



Title II. Of the Tribunals of First Instance. 

6. There shall be established -a tribunal of first instance 
per communal district. 

7. The tribunals of first instance shall have original and 
final jurisdiction of civil matters in the cases determined by 
law ; they shall likewise have jurisdiction in matters of cor- 
rectional police; they shall pass upon appeals from the judg- 
ments rendered in the first instance by the justices of the 
peace. 



Judicial System Law 289 

Title III. Of the Tribunals of Appeal. 

21. There shall be established twenty-nine tribunals of 
appeal, in the places and for the departments as follows : . . . 

22. Tne tribunals of appeal shall decide upon appeals from 
judgments in first instance rendered in civil matters by the 
district tribunals and upon appeals from judgments of first 
instance rendered by the commercial tribunals. 



Title IV. Of the Criminal Tribunals. 

32. There shall be a criminal tribunal in each department. 

32. The criminal tribunals shall have jurisdiction, as in 
the past, over all criminal cases ; they shall decide upon the 
appeals from the judgments rendered by the tribunals of the 
first instance in matters of correctional police. 

Title VI. Of the Tribunal of Cassation. 

58. The tribunal of cassation shall sit at Paris in the place 
determined by the government. 

It shall be composed of forty-eight judges. 

60. The tribunal shall be divided into three sections, each 
of sixteen judges. 

The first shall decide upon the admission or rejection of 
petitions in cassation or as to prejudice, and definitively upon 
the applications as to the rulings of judges and as to transfers 
from one tribunal to another. 

The second shall pronounce definitively upon applications in 
cassation or as to prejudice, when the petitions shall have 
been accepted. 

The third shall pronounce upon the applications in cassa- 
tion in criminal, correctional and police matters, unless there 
should be need of prior judgment of admission. 

76. Besides the functions given to the tribunal of cassa- 
tion by article 65 of the constitution, it shall pronounce upon 
the rulings of the judges when conflict arises between several 



290 Treaty of Luneville 

tribunals of appeal or between several tribunals of first in- 
stance not resorting to the same tribunal of appeal. 

"Jl. There is no opportunity for cassation against the judg- 
ments in the last resort of the justices of the peace, except 
lor cause of incompetency dr of excess of power, nor against 
the judgments of military and naval tribunals, except, like- 
wise, for cause of incompetency or excess of power pro- 
posed by a non-military citizen, or [one] assimilated to the 
military by the laws, on account of his functions. 



62. Treaty of Luneville. 

February 9, 1801 (20 Pluviose, Year IX). De Clercq, Tn 
I, 424-429. Translation, James Harvey Robinson, University of 
Pennsylvania Translations and Reprints. 

This treaty terminated the war with Austria which had been 
renewed while Napoleon Bonaparte was in Egypt. It should be 
compared with No. 55. 

Refeeences. Fyffe, Modern Europe, I, 225-226 (Popular ed., 
152) ; Cambridge Modern History, IX, 69-70 ; Fournier, 'Napoleon, 
206-208 ; Sloane, Napoleon, II, 125-126 : Lavisse and Rambaud, 
Histoire (jencralc, IX, 51-52 : J'aures, Histoire socialiste, VI, 114- 
115. 

Maps. Droysen, HistoriscJier Rand-Atlas, 48 : Lane-Poole, His- 
torical Atlas of Modern Europe, XI ; Schrader, Atlas de geographie 
liistorique, 48. 

His Majesty the Emperor, King of Hungary and of 
Bohemia, and the First Consul of the French Republic, in 
the name of the French people, induced by a common desire 
to put an end to the evils of war, have resolved to proceed 
to the conclusion of a definitive treaty of peace and amity. 
His said Imperial and Royal Majesty desiring no less sincerely 
to extend the benefits of peace to the German Empire, and 
the existing conditions not affording the necessary time for 
consulting the Empire, or permitting its representatives to 
take part in the negotiations, has resolved, in view of the 
concessions made by the deputation of the Empire at the 
recent Congress of Rastadt, to treat in the name of the Ger- 
man body, as has happened before under similar circum- 
stances. 



Treaty of Luneville 291 

1. Peace, amity and a good understanding shall hereafter 
exist forever between His Majesty the Emperor, King of 
Hungary and of Bohemia, acting both in his own name and 
in that of the German Empire, and the French Republic; His 
Majesty agreeing that the said Empire shall ratify the present 
treaty in due form. The contracting parties shall make every 
effort to maintain a perfect agreement between themselves, 
and to prevent the commission O'f any acts of hostility by land 
or sea upon any ground or pretence whatsoever; striving in 
every way to maintain the concord thus happily re-established. 
No aid or protection shall be given either directly or indirectly 
to any one attempting to injure either of the contracting par- 
ties. 

2. The cession of the former Belgian Provinces to the 
French Republic, stipulated in Article 3 of the treaty of 
Campo Formio, is renewed here in the most solemn manner. 
His Majesty the Emperor and King therefore renounces for 
himself and his successors, as well on his own part as on 
that of the German Empire, all right and title to the above 
specified provinces, which shall be held in perpetuity by the 
French Republic in full sovereignty and proprietary right, to- 
gether with all territorial possessions belonging to them. 

His Imperial and Royal Majesty cedes Hkewise to the 
French Republic, with the due consent of the Empire: 

1. The county of Falkenstein with its dependencies. 

2. The Frickthal and all the territory upon the left bank of 
the Rhine between Zurzach and Basle belonging to the House 
of Austria; the French Republic reserving the future cession 
of this district to the Helvetian Republic. 

3. Moreover, in confirmation of Article 6 of the treaty 
of Campo Formio, His Majesty the Emperor and King shall 
possess in full sovereignty and proprietary right the countries 
enumerated below, to wit: 

Istria, Dalmatia and the islands of the Adriatic, formerly 
belonging to Venice, dependent upon them ; the mouths of 
the Cattaro, the city of Venice, the Lagunes, and the ter- 
ritory included between the hereditary States of His Maj- 
esty the Emperor and King, the Adriatic Sea and the Adige 
from the point where it leaves Tyrol to that \\here it flows 
into the Adriatic, the thalweg of the Adige forming the boun- 
dary line. And since by this line the cities of Verona and 



292 Treaty of Luneville 

Porto-Legnago are separated into two parts, draw-bridges in- 
dicating the frontier shall be established in the middle of the 
bridges connecting the two parts of the said towns. 

4. Article 18 of the treaty of Campo Formio is likewise 
renewed, whereby His Majesty the Emperor and King agrees 
to cede to the Duke of Modena, as an indemnity for the ter- 
ritory which this prince and his heirs possessed in Italy, the 
Breisgau, which he shall possess upon the same conditions 
as those upon which he held Modena. 

5. It is further agreed that His Royal Highness the Grand 
Duke of Tuscany shall renounce for himself, his successors or 
possible claimants, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and that part 
of the island of Elba belonging to it, as well as all rights 
and titles resulting from the possession of the said states, 
which shall hereafter be held in full sovereignty and propri- 
etary right by His Royal Highness the Infante Duke of Par- 
m>a. The Grand Duke shall receive a complete and full in- 
demnity in Germany for the loss of his state in Italy. . . . 

6. His Majesty the Emperor and King, consents not only 
on his part but upon the part of the German Empire, that the 
French Republic shall hereafter possess in full sovereignty and 
proprietary right the territory and domains lying on the left 
bank of the Rhine and forming a part of the German Empire, 
so that, in conformity with the concessions granted by the 
deputation of the Empire at the Congress of Rastadt and 
approved by the Emperor, the thalweg of the Rhine shall 
hereafter form the boundary between the French Republic and 
the German Empire from that point where the Rhine leaves 
Helvetian territory to the point where it reaches Batavian ter- 
ritory. 

In view of this the French Republic formally renounces 
all possessions whatsoever upon the right bank of the Rhine 
and agrees to restore to their owners the following places : 
Diisseldorf, Ehrenbreitstein, Philippsburg, the fortress ci Cas- 
sel and other fortifications across from Mainz on the right 
bank of the stream, and the fortress of Kehl and Alt Breisach, 
under the express provision that these places and forts shall 
continue, to exist in the condition in which they are left at 
the time of the evacuation. 

7. Since in consequence of this cession made by the Em- 
pire to the French Republic various princes and states of 



Treaty of Luneville 293 

the Empire find themselves individually dispossessed in part 
or wholly of their territory, while the German Empire should 
collectively support the losses resulting from the stipulations 
of the present treaty, it is agreed between His Majesty the 
Emperor and King (both on his part and upon the part of 
the German Empire) and the French Republic that, in accord- 
ance with the principles laid down at the congress of Rastadt, 
the Empire shall be bound to furnish the hereditary princes 
who have lost possession upon the left bank of the Rhine an 
indemnity within the Empire, according to such arrangements 
as shall be determined later in accordance with the stipulations 
here made. 

11. The present treaty of peace ... is declared to be 
common to the Batavian, Helvetian, Cisalpine and Ligurian 
republics. The contracting parties mutually guarantee the 
independence of the said republics and the freedom of the in- 
habitants of the said countries to adopt such form of govern- 
ment as they shall see fit. 

12. His Majesty the Emperor and King renounces for 
himself and for his successors in favor of the Cisalpine Re- 
public all rights and titles depending upon such rights, which 
His Majesty might assert over the territories in Italy which 
he possessed before the war and which, according to the terms 
of article 8 of the- treaty of Campo Formio, now form a 
part of the Cisalpine Republic which shall hold them in full 
sovereign and proprietary right together with all the terri- 
torial possessions dependent upon them. 

13. His Majesty the Emperor and King confirms both in 
his own name and in the name of the German Empire the 
sanction already given by the treaty of Campo Formio to the 
union of the former imperial fiefs to the Ligurian Republic 
and renounces all claims and titles resulting from these claims 
upon the said fiefs. 



294 Treaty of Amiens 

63. Treaty of Amiens. 

March 27, 1802. Hansard, Parliamentary History, XXXVI, 
558-563. 

As the result of this treaty France was left at peace with all 
Europe, for the first time in ten years. The peace, however, last- 
ed only fifteen months. A careful study of the document, with due 
attention to the situation of Europe at the time, should do much 
to show why the war was so soon renewed. Both the omissions 
of the document and the vague character of some of its provisions 
call for attention. 

References. Fyffe, Modern Europe, I, 236-238 (Popular ed., 
159-160) ; Cambridge Modern History, IX, 70-80 ; Fournier, Napo- 
leon, 214-220; Rose, Napoleon, I, Ch. XIV; Sloane, Napoleon. II, 
135-136, 1G7-169 ; Lanfrey, Napoleon, II. 129-148, 187-189 ; Lavisse 
and Rambaud, Histoire generale, IX, 60-62 ; Jaurfes, Histoire so- 
cialiste, VI, 120-134. 

His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great 
Britain n.nd Ireland, and the First Consul of the French Re- 
public, in the name of the French people, being animated with 
an equal desire to put an end to the calamities of war, have 
laid the foundation of peace in the preliminary articles signed 
at London the ist of October, i8oi (9 Vendemiaire, Year 
X)j ... 

I*. There shall be peace, friendship and good understand- 
ing, between His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of 
Great Britain and Ireland, his heirs and successors, o.n the 
one part; and the French Republic, His Majesty the King of 
Spain, his heirs and successors, and the Batavian Republic, on 
the other part. . . . 

3. His Britannic Majesty restores to the French Republic 
and her allies, namely, His Catholic Majesty and the Batavian 
Republic, all the possessions and colonies which belonged 
to them respectively, and which had been occupied or con- 
quered by the British forces in the course of the war, with the 
exception of the island of Trinidad, and the Dutch posses- 
sions in the island of Ceylon. 

4. His Catholic Majesty cedes and guarantees, in full right 
'and sovereignty, to his Britannic Majesty, the island of Trini- 
dad. 

5. The Batavian Republic cedes and guarantees in full right 
and sovereignty to his Britannic Majesty, all tlie possessions 
and establishments in the island of Cevlon, which belonged 



Treaty of Amiens 295 

before the war to the Republic of the United Provinces, or 
to their East India company. 

6. The Cape of Good Hope remains in full sovereignty to 
the Batavian Republic, as it vi^as before the war. . . . 

7. The territories and possessions of Her Most Faithful 
Majesty [of Portugal] are maintained in their integrity, such 
as they were previous to the commencement of the war. . . 

8. The territories, possessions and rights of the Ottoman 
Porte, are hereby maintained in their integrity, such as they 
were previous to the war. 

9. The Republic of the Seven Islands is hereby acknowl- 
edged. 

10. The islands of Malta, Gozo, and Comino, shall be re- 
stored to the order of St. John of Jerusalem, and shall be 
held by it upon the same conditions on which the order held 
them previous to the war, and under the following stipulations : 

4th. The forces of his Britannic Majesty shall evacuate 
the island and its dependencies within three months after 
the exchange of ratifications, or sooner if it can be done. At 
that period the island shall be delivered up to the order in 
the state in which it now is, provided that the grand master,, 
or commissioners fully empowered, according to the statutes 
of the order, be upon the island to receive possession, and 
that the force to be furnished by His Sicilian Majesty, as here- 
after stipulated, be arrived there. 

18. The branch of the House of Nassau, which was es- 
tablished in the republic, formerly called the Republic of the 
United Provinces, a,nd now the Batavian Republic, having 
suffered losses there, as well in private property as in con- 
sequence of the change of constitution adopted in that coun- 
try, an adequate compensation shall be procured for the said 
branch of the House of Nassau for the said losses. 

19. The present definitive treaty of peace is declared com- 
mon to the Sublime Ottoman Porte, the ally of His Brit- 
annic Majesty and the Sublime Porte shall be invited to 
transmit its act of accession thereto in the shortest delay 
possible. 



296 Napoleon and Religion 

64. Documents upon Napoleon and the Re- 
organization of Religion. 

At the beginning of the consulate the religious institutions of 
France were in a state of hopeless confusion. These documents 
show the general character of the reorganization effected by Na- 
poleon. Document A is the compact between France and the pa- 
pacy which until 1906 controlled the position of the Roman cath- 
olic church in France. The two dates ascribed to it represent 
those of its signature by the French and papal envoys and of its 
promulgation in France. Document B was purely a French legis- 
lative act ; the consent of the Pope was neither asked nor given. 
Document D did for the two recognized protestant sects what the 
other documents did for the Roman catholic church. In 1808 a 
similar arrangement was made for the Jews. 

Rbperbnces. Fyffe, Modern Europe, I, 260-265 (Popular ed., 
175-178) ; Cambridge Modern History, IX, Ch. vii ; Fournier, Na- 
poleon, II, 211-213 ; liose, Napoleon. I, 249-2(52 ; Lanfrey, Napoleon, 
II, 1513-173 ; Wells. American Historical Association, Annual Re- 
port for 1895, 469-485 ; Aulard, Revolution frangaise, Part IV, 
Ch. Ill ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire generate, IX, 255-272 ; De- 
bidour. L'tglise et l'£!tat. Part I, Ch. vi ; Jaurfes, Histoire social- 
iste, VI, 75-98. 

A. The Concordat. July 15, 1801-April 8, 1802 (26 Messi- 
doT, Year IX-18 Germinal, Year X). Duvergier, Lois, XIII, 
89-91. 

The First Consul of the French Republic and His Holiness 
the Sovereign Pontiff Pius VII have appointed as their re- 
spective plenipotentiaries : . . . 

Who, after the exchange of their respective full powers, 
have arranged the following convention : 

Convention between the French Government and 
His Holiness Pius VII. 

The government of the French Republic recognizes that 
the Roman, catholic and apostolic religion is the religion of 
the great majority of French citizens. 

His Holiness likewise recognizes that this same religion has 
derived and in this moment again expects the greatest bene- 
fit and grandeur from the establishment of the catholic wor- 
ship in France and from the personal profession of it which 
the consuls of the Republic make. 

In consequence, after this mutual recognition, as well for 
the benefit of religion as for the maintenance of internal 
tranquility, they have agreed as follows : 



Napoleon and Religion 297 

1. The catholic, apostoHc and Roman religion shall be 
freely exercised in France : its worship shall be public, and 
in conformity with the police regulations which the govern- 
ment shall deem necessary for the public tranquility. 

2. A new circumscription of the French dioceses shall be 
made by the holy see in concert with the government. 

3. His Holiness' shall declare to the titular French bishops 
that he with firm confidence expects from them, for the bene- 
fit of peace and unity, every sort of sacrifice, even that of 
their sees. 

After this exhortation, if they should refuse this sacrifice 
required for the welfare of the church (a refusal which His 
Holiness, nevertheless, does not expect), provision shall be 
made for the government of the bishoprics of the new cir- 
cumscription by new titularies in the following manner : 

4. The First Consul of the Republic shall make appoint- 
ments, within the three months which shall follow the pub- 
lication of the bull of His Holiness, to the archbishoprics and 
bishoprics of the new circumscription. His Holiness shall 
confer the canonical institution, following the forms estab- 
lished in relation to France before the change of government. 

5. The nominations to the bishoprics which shall be va- 
cant in the future shall likewise be made by the First Con- 
sul, and the canonical institution shall be given by the holy 
see, in conformity with the preceding article. 

6. Before entering 'upon their functions, the bishops shall 
take directly, at the hands of the First Consul, the oath of 
fidelity which was in use before the change of government, 
expressed in the following terms : 

"I swear and promise to God, upon the holy scriptures, to 
remain in obedience and fidelity to the government established 
by the constitution of the French Republic. I also promise 
not to have any intercourse, nor to assist by any counsel, 
nor to support any league, either within or without, which is 
inimical to the public tranquility; and if, within my diocese 
or elsewhere, I learn that anything to the prejudice of the 
state is being contrived, I will make it known to the govern- 
ment." 

7. The ecclesiastics of the second rank shall take the same 
oath at the hands of the civil authorities designated by the 
government. 



298 Napoleon and Religion 

8. The following form of prayer shall be repeated at the 
end of divine service in all the catholic churches of France: 
Domine, salvam fac Rempublicam ; Domine, sahos fac Con- 
sules. 

9. The bishops shall make a new circumscription of the 
parishes of their dioceses, which shall have effect only after 
the consent of the government. 

TO. The bishops shall appoint the cures. 

II. The bishops can have a chapter in their cathedrals and 
a seminary for their dioceses, without the government's being 
under obligations to endow them. 

12 All the metropolitan, cathedral, parochial and other 
non-alienated churches needed for worship shall be again 
placed at the disposal of the bishops. 

13. His Holiness, in the interest of peace and the happy 
re-establishment of the catholic religion, declares that neither 
he nor his successors will disturb in any manner the pur- 
chasers of the alienated ecclesiastical estates, and that, in 
consequence, the ownership of these same estates, the rights 
a.nd revenues attached to them, shall be indefeasible in their 
hands and in those of their assigns. 

14. The government shall settle a suitable stipend upon 
the bishops and cures whose dioceses and parishes shall be 
included in the new circumscription. 

15. The government shall likewise take measures in order 
that French catholics, if they desire, may act in favor of 
church foundations. 

16. His Holiness recognizes in the First Consul of the 
French Republic the same rights and prerogatives which the 
old government before it enjoyed. 

17. It is agreed between the contracting parties that in 
case any one of the successors of the present First Consul 
shall not be catholic, the rights and prerogatives mentioned in 
the article above and the nomination to bishoprics shall be 
regulated, as regards him, by a new convention. 

The ratification shall be exchanged at Paris within the 
space of forty days. 

Done at Paris, 26 Messidor, Year IX. 



Napoleon and Religion 299 

B. Organic Articles for the Catholic Church. April 8. 
j8o2 (18 Germinal, Year X). Duvergier, Lois^ XIII, 91-101. 

Title I. Of the Regime of the Catholic Church in its Re- 
lations with the Rights and the Police of the State. 

1. No bull, brief, rescript, decree, injunction, provision, 
signature serving as a provision, nor other documents from 
the court of Rome, even concerning individuals only, can be 
received, published, printed, or otherwise put into effect, with- 
out the authorisation of the government. 

2. No person calling himself nuncio, legate, vicar or apos- 
tolic commissioner, or taking advantage of any other denom- 
ination, without the same authorisation, can exercise upon 
French soil or elsewhere any function relative to the affairs 
of the Gallican church. 

3. The decrees of foreign synods, even those of general 
councils, cannot be published in France before the govern- 
ment has examined their form, their conformity with the laws, 
rights, and liberties of the French Republic, and everything 
which, in their publication, may alter or affect the public tran- 
quility. 

4. No national or metropolitan council, no diocesan synod. 
no deliberative assembly, shall take place without the express 
permission of the government. 

5. AH the ecclesiastical offices shall be gratuitous, saving 
the offerings which may be authorised and fixed by the regu- 
lations. 

6. There shall be recourse to the Council of State in every 
case of abuse on the part of the superiors and other ecclesi- 
astical persons. 

The cases of abuse are usurpation or excess of power, con- 
travention of the laws and regulations of the Republic, in- 
fraction of the rules sanctioned by the canons received in 
France, attack upon the liberties, privileges and customs of 
the Gallican church, and every undertaking or any proceed- 
ing which in the exercise of worship can compromise the 
honor of the citizens, disturb arbitrarily their consciences, or 
degenerate into oppression or injury against them or into 
public scandal. 



300 Napoleon and Religion 

Title II. Of the Ministers. 

Section i. General provisions. 

9. The catholic worship shall be carried on under the di- 
rection of the archbishops and bishops in their dioceses, and 
under that of the cures in their parishes. 

10. Every privilege involving exemption from or attribu- 
tion of the episcopal jurisdiction is abolished. 

11. The archbishops and bishops shall be able, with the 
authorisation of the government, to establish cathedral chap- 
ters and seminaries in their dioceses. All other ecclesiastical 
establishments are suppressed. 

12. The archbishops and bishops shall be free to add to 
their name the title of Citizen or that of Monsieur. All other 
designations are forbidden. 

(Section 11. Of the archbishops and metropolitans. 

13. The archbishops shall consecrate and install their suf- 
fragans. In case of hindrance or of refusal on their part, they 
shall be acted for by the senior bishop of the metropolitan 
district. 

Section iii. Of the bishops, the vicars general and the 
seminaries. 

16. No one can be appointed bishop before reaching thirty 
years of age, nor unless he is of French origin. 

18. The priest appointed by the First Consul shall insti- 
tute proceedings in order to procure investiture from the 
Pope. 

He cannot exercise any function until the bull declaring 
his investiture has received the attestation of the government 
and until he has personally taken the oath prescribed by the 
convention agreed to by the French government and the holy 
see. 

This oath shall be delivered to the First Consul ; there shall 
be a record of it drawn up by the secretary of state. 

ig. The bishops shall appoint and install the cures; never- 
theless, they shall not make known their appointment and 
they shall not give them the canonical investiture until after 
tin's appointment shall have been agreed to by the First Con- 
sul. 



Napoleon and Religion 301 

20. They shall be required to reside in their dioceses ; 
they cannot leave them, except with the permission of the 
First Consul. 

23. The bishops shall be charged with the organization of 
their seminaries, and the regulations for this organization 
shall be submitted to the approbation of the First Consul. 

24. Those who shall be chosen to give instruction in the 
seminaries shall subscribe to the declaration made by the 
clergy of France in 1682 and published in an edict of the 
same year; they shall consent to teach in them the doctrine 
contained therein, and the bishops shall address a copy in due 
form to the councillor of state charged with all matters re- 
lating to worship. 

26. They shall not ordain any ecclesiastic, unless he proves 
that he has property producing an annual revenue of at least 
three hundred francs, that he has reached the age of twenty- 
five years, and that he meets the qualifications required by 
the canons received in France. 

The bishops shall not make any ordinations until the num- 
ber of persons to be ordained has been submitted to the gov- 
ernment and agreed to by it. 

Section IV. Of the cures. 

27. The cures shall enter upon their functions only after 
having taken at the hands of the prefect the oath prescribed 
by the convention agreed to by the government and the holy 
see. A minute of this oath-taking shall be drawn up by the 
general secretary of the prefecture and collated copies of it 
shall be delivered by them. 

29. They shall be required to reside in their parishes. 

32. No foreigner can be employed in the functions of the 
ecclesiastical ministry without the permission of the govern- 
ment. 

SS- All employment is forbidden to every ecclesiastic, even 
French, who does not belong to any one diocese. 



302 Napoleon and Religion 

Section V. Of the cathedral chapters, and the government 
of the dioceses during the vacancy of a see. 

35. The archbishops and bishops vi^ho shall desire to make 
use of the privilege which is given them to establish chap- 
ters shall not do it without having procured the authorisa- 
tion of the government, as well for the establishment itself 
as for the number and the choice of the ecclesiastics desig- 
nated to constitute it. 

Title III. Of the Worship. 

39. There shall be only one liturgy and one catechism for 
all the catholic churches of France. 

41. No religious festival, with the exception of the Sab- 
bath, can be established without the permission of the gov- 
ernment. 

43. All the ecclesiastics shall be dressed in French fash- 
ion and in black. 

The bishops can add to this costume the pastoral cross and 
violet stockings. 

44. Family chapels and private oratories cannot be estab- 
lished without the express permission of the government, 
granted upon the request of the bishop. 

45. In the cities in which there are temples set aside for 
different religious organizations, no catholic religious cere- 
mony shall occur outside of the edifices consecrated to the 
catholic worship. 

46. A single temple can be consecrated to only a single 
worship. 

47. There shall be in the cathedrals and parish churches 
a place of distinction for catholic persons who occupy the 
civil and military posts. 

48. The bishop shall co-operate with the prefect in order 
to regulate the manner of calling the faithful to divine serv- 
ice by the sound of the bells ; no one can sound them for 
any other purpose without the permission of the local police. 

49. When the government shall order public prayers the 
bishops shall co-operate with the prefect and the military 
commandant of the place as to the day, hour and manner of 
carrying into effect these orders. 



Napoleon and Religion 303 

50. The formal addresses called sermons and those known 
under the name of stations of Advent and of Lent shall be 
given only by the priests who have received a special authori- 
sation for it from the bishop. 

51. The cures at the sermons of the parochial masses shall 
pray and cause prayer to be offered for the French Republic 
and for the consuls. 

52. They shall not permit themselves in their teaching 
any direct or indirect inculpation either of individuals or of 
the other religious oi^ganizations authorised in the state. 

53. They shall not make in the sermon any publication 
foreign to the exercise of worship, except those which shall 
be ordered by the government. 

54. They shall give the nuptial benediction only to those 
who shall prove in good and due form that they have con- 
tracted marriage before the civil officer. 

56. In all religious and ■ecclesiastical documents the em- 
ployment of the equinoctial calendar, established by the laws , 
of the Republic, shall be obligatory; the days shall be desig- 
nated by the names which they had in the solstitial calendar. 

57. The rest for the public functionaries shall be fixed 
upon Sunday. 

Title IV. Of the Circumscription of the Archbishoprics, 
Bishoprics, and Parishes; of the Edifices Intended 
for Worship and of the Stipend of the Ministers. 

Section i. Of the circumscription of the archbishoprics 
and bishoprics. 

58. There shall be in France ten archbishoprics or metro- 
politanates and fifty bishoprics. 

Section iii. Of the compensation of the ministers. 

64. The stipend of the archbishops shall be fifteen thous- 
and francs. 

65. The stipend of the bishops shall be ten thousand francs. 

66. The cures shall be divided into two classes : 

The stipend of the cures of the first class shall be fixed at 
fifteen hundred francs and that of the cures uf the second 
class at a thousand francs. 



304 Napoleon and Religion 

68. The vicars and officiating priests shall be chosen from 
among the ecclesiastics pensioned in carrying into effect the 
laws of the constituent assembly. 

The amount of these pensions and the product of the offer- 
ings shall form their stipend. 

69. The bishops shall draw up projects for the regula- 
tions relative to the offerings which the ministers of the 
religion are authorised to receive for the administration of 
the sacraments. The projects for regulations drawn up by 
the bishops cannot be published, nor otherwise put into effect, 
until after having been approved by the government. 

70. Every ecclesiastic pensioned by the state shall be de- 
prived of his pension if he refuses, without legitimate cause, 
the functions which shall be entrusted to him. 

"jT,. Endowments which have for their purpose the sup- 
port of the ministers and the carrying on of worship shall 
consist only of revenues settled upon the state ; they shall be 
accepted by the diocesan bishop and can be carried out only 
with the authorisation of the government. 

74. Immovables other than buildings intended for dwell- 
ings and the attendant gardens cannot be invested with ec- 
clesiastical titles, nor possessed by the ministers of the sect 
on account of their functions. 



C. The Declaration of 1682. March 19, 1682. Debidour, 
L'Eglise et I'Etat en France, 651-652. 

Many persons are striving in these times to subvert the de- 
crees of the Gallican church and its liberties, which our an- 
cestors have supported with so much zeal, and to overthrow 
their foundations, which rest upon the holy canons and the 
tradition of the fathers. Others, under pretence of defend- 
ing them, are not afraid to excite an attack upon the primacy 
of Saint Peter and the Roman pontiffs, his successors, who 
were instituted by Jesus Christ, and the obedience which all 
christians owe them, and to diminish the majesty of the 
apostolic holy see, which is worthy of respect by all the na- 
tions in which the true faith is taught and in Vv^hich the unity 
of the church is preserved. On the other hand, heretics are 
putting everything at work to make the authority, which 



Napoleon and Religion 305 

maintains the peace of the church, appear odious and intol- 
erable to kings and peoples, and, by these artifices, to remove 
simple souls from the communion of the church, their 
mother, and therefore from that of Jesus Christ. — In order 
to remedy these inconveniences, we, archbishops and bishops 
assembled at Paris by order of the king, representing with 
the other ecclesiastical deputies the Gallican church, after 
mature deliberation have decided that it is necessary to make 
the regulations and the declarations which follow : 

1. That Saint Peter and his successors, vicars of Jesus 
Christ, and even the whole church have received authority 
from God only over things spiritual and which have to do 
with salvation, and not over things temporal and civil; Jesus 
Christ himself tells us that His kingdom is not of this zuorld, 
and, in another place, that it is necessary to render to Caesar 
that which belongs to Caesar, and to God that zvhich belongs 
to God. That it is necessary to hold to this precept of Saint 
Paul : that every person should be subject to the highef 
powers, for there is no power which does not come from 
God, and it is He zvho ordains those which are upon earth, 
that is zvhy he who opposes the powers resists the order of 
God. In consequence, we declare that kings by order of God, 
are not subject to any ecclesiastical power, in things which 
have tO' do with the temporal, and that they cannot be de- 
posed directly or indirectly by the authority of the heads of 
the church ; that their subjects cannot be exempted from the 
submissions and obedience which are due to them, nor be 
dispensed from the oath of fidelity; that this doctrine, neces;- 
sary for the public peace, and as advantageous to church as 
to state, ought to be regarded as in conformity with the holy 
scriptures and with the traditions of the fathers of the church 
and with the example of the saints. 

2. That the plentitude of power which the apostolic holy 
see and the successors of Saint Peter, vicars of Jesus Christ, 
have over things spiritual is such, nevertheless, that the de- 
crees of the holy oecumenical council of Constance, contained 
in sessions 4 and 5, approved by the apostolic holy see and 
confirmed by the practice of all the church and of the Roman 
pontiffs, and religiously observed of all time by the Gallican 
church, remain in their force and vigor, and that the church 
of France does not approve of the opinion of those who make 



3o6 Napoleon and Religion 

attack upon these decrees or enfeeble them by saying that 
their authority is not well established and that they are not 
approved or that their provision had regard only to the time 
of the schism. 

3. That it is necessary to regulate the use of the apostolic 
authority through canons made by the spirit of God and con- 
secrated by the general respect of all the world ; that the 
rules, customs and constitutions received in the kingdom and 
in the Galilean church ought to have their force and their 
vigor, and that the usages of our fathers ought to remain un- 
shaken ; that it is also for the grandeur of the apostolic holy 
see that the laws and customs established with the consent 
of that see and of the churches should have the authority 
which they ought to have. 

4. That, although the pope has the principal part in ques- 
tions of faith, and although his decrees relate to all the 
churches, and each church in particular, his judgment is not 
irreformable, unless the consent of the church intervenes. 

These are the maxims which we have received from our 
fathers and which we have ordered to be sent to all the Gal- 
ilean churches and to the bishops whom the holy spirit has 
established there to govern them, in order that we may all 
say the same thing, that we may be of the same sentiments, 
and that we may all hold the same doctrine. 

D. Organic Articles for the Protestant Sects. April 8, 
1802 (18 Germinal, Year X). Duvergier, Lois, XIII, 101-103. 

Title I. General Provisions for all the Protestant 
Communions. 

1. No one can conduct the performance of worship ex- 
cept a Frenchman. 

2. Neither the protestant churches nor their ministers shall 
have relations with any foreign power or authority. 

3. The pastors and ministers of the different protestant 
communions in the recital of their worship shall pray for 
and cause to be prayed for the prosperity of the French Re- 
public and the consuls. 

4. No doctrinal or dogmatic decision nor any formulary, 
under the title of confession or under any other title, shall be 



Napoleon and Religion 307 

published or become matter of instruction until the govern- 
ment has authorised the publication or promulgation of it.. 

5. No change in discipline shall take place without the 
sam^e authorisation. 

6. The Council of State shall be informed of all the un- 
dertakings of the ministers of the sect, and of all the dissen- 
sions which shall arise among these ministers. 

7. A stipend shall be provided [by the government] for 
the pastors of the consistorial churches ; it is understood that 
the estates whicn these churches possess and the product of 
the offerings established by usage or by the regulations shall 
be utilized towards this stipend. 

8. The arrangements provided by the organic articles of 
the cathohc worship upon the liberty of endowments, and 

■upon the nature of the estates which can be th^ object there- 
of, shall be common to the protestant churches. 

9. Tbere shall be two academies or seminaries in the east 
of France for the instruction of ministers of the confession 
of Augsburg. 

ID. There shall be a seminary at Geneva for the instruc- 
tion of the ministers of the reformed churcheS; 

11. The professors of all the academies or seminaries 
shall be appointed by the First Consul. 

12. No one can be elected minister or pastor of a church 
of the confession of Augsburg, unless he has studied for a 
determined time in one of the French seminaries intended 
for the instruction of the ministers of that confession, and 
unless he brings a certificate in good form attesting his time 
of study, his capacity and his good morals. 

13. No one can be elected minister or pastor of a reformed 
church, without having studied in the seminary at Geneva, 
nor unless he brings a certificate in the form set forth in the 
preceding article. 

14. The regulations upon the administration a,nd the in- 
ternal police of the seminaries, upon the number and the 
qualification of the professors, upon the manrier of instruc- 
ting, and upon the matter of instruction, as well as upon the 
form of the certificates or attestations of study, good conduct 
and capacity, shall be approved by the government. 



3o8 Napoleon and Education 

65. Documents upon Napoleon and Education. 

From these documents an excellent idea of the educational sys- 
tem of Napoleon can be obtained. Documents A and C, the two 
principal creative acts, show the plan of the system and inciden- 
tally throw some light upon its educational spirit and ideals. 
Document B, although an extract from a church instead of a school 
text-book, will serve to convey some idea of the character of the 
teaching touching political matters. 

REFERENCES. Dickinson, Revolution and Reaction in Modern 
France, 48-51 ; Cambridge Modern History, IX, 126-130 ; Fournier, 
Napoleon, 233-235, 406-410 ; Rose, Napoleon, I, 271-275 ; Lanfrey, 
Napoleon, II, 221-224, III, 139-141 ; Sloane, Napoleon, II, 144-147, 
III, 72-74 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, liistoire (/enerale, IX, 248-253. 

A. Law upon Public Instruction. May i, 1802 (11 Flor- 
eal, Year X). Duvergier, Lois, XIII, 175-178. 

Title I. Division of the Instruction. 

I. Instruction shall be given : 

1st. In the primary schools established by the communes; 

2d. In the secondary schools cstablislied by the communes 
or kept by private masters ; 

3d. In the lycees and the special schoo-ls maintained at 
the expense of the public treasury. 

Title II. Of the Primary Schools. 



3. The instructors shall be chosen by the mayors and the 
municipal councils; their stipend shall consist of: ist, the 
dwelling provided by the communes; 2d, a fee paid by the 
parents, and fixed by the municipal councils. 

4. The municipal councils shall exempt from the fee those 
of the parents who may be unable to pay it ; nevertheless, 
this exemption cannot exceed a fifth of the children received 
into the primary schools. 

5. The sub-perfects shall be especially charged with the 
organization of the primary schools ; they shall render month- 
ly to the prefects an account of their condition. 

Title III. Of the Secondary Schools. 

6. Every school established by the communes or kept by 
individuals, in which instruction is given in the Latin .and 
French languages, the first principles of geography, history, 
and mathematics, shall be considered a secondary school. 



Napoleon and Education 309 

7. The government encourages the estabhshment of sec- 
ondary schools and will recompense good instruction which 
shall be given there, either by the grant of a habitation or by 
the distribution of gratuitous places in the lycees tO' those of 
the pupils of each department who shall most distinguish 
themselves, and by the bounties granted to the fifty masters 
of those schools which shall have had the most pupils ad- 
r.'itted to the lycees. 

8. Secondary schools cannot be established without the 
authorisation of the government. The secondary schools, as 
well as all the private schools whose instruction shall be 
higher than that of the primary schools, shall be placed under 
the special surveillance and inspection of the prefects. 

Title IV. Of the Lycees, 

9. Lycees shall be established for instruction in letters 
and the sciences. There shall be at least one lycee for each 
tribunal of appeal district. 

10. Instruction shall be given in the lycees in the ancient 
languages, rhetoric, logic, ethics, and the elements of the 
mathematical and physical sciences. 

The number of professors in the lycee shall never be less 
than eight ; but it can be increased by the government, as well 
as the number of the subjects of instruction, according to the 
number of pupils who shall attend the lycees. 

11. There shall be in the lycees, study masters, and mas- 
ters of drawing, mihtary exercises, and of accomplishments, 
[i.e. music and dancing]. 

12. Instruction shall be given there : 

To pupils whom the government shall place there ; 

To the pupils of the secondary schools who shall be ad- 
mitted there by a competition ; 

To pupils w^hose parents shall have placed them there to 
board ; 

To day scholars. 

13. The administration of each lyccc shall be confided to 
a principal ; he shall have immediately under him a study- 
critic and a proctor conducting the affairs of the school. 

14. The principal, the critic, and the proctor shall be ap- 



310 Napoleon and Education 

pointed by the First Consul : they shall form the council of 
administration for the school. 

15. In each of the cities where a lycee is established there 
shall be a bureau of administration for that school. This bu- 
reau shall be composed of the prefect of the department, the 
president of the tribunal of appeal, the commissioner of the 
government before this tribunal, the commissioner of the 
government before the criminal tribunal, the mayor, and the 
principal. 

17. The First Consul shall appoint three inspectors-gen- 
eral of studies who shall visit the lycees at least once a year, 
shall definitely settle their accounts, shall examine all parts 
of the instruction and administration, and shall render an 
account thereof to the government. 

19. The first appointment of the professors of the lycees 
shall be in the following manner : three inspectors-general of 
studies, in conjunction with three members of the national 
institute, designated by the First Consul, shall go over the 
departments and shall there examine the citizens who pre- 
sent themselves to occupy the different places of professors. 
For each place they shall indicate to the government two 
persons, one of whom shall be appointed by the First Consul. 

20. When the lycees are once organized and a chair be- 
comes vacant, the three inspectors-general of studies shall 
present one person to the government ; 'the bureau, in con- 
junction with the council of administration and the professors 
of the lycees, shall present another ; the First Consul shall 
appoint one of the two candidates. 



Title V. Of the Special Schools. 

23. The last grade of instruction shall include in the 
special schools the complete and profound study of the sci- 
ences and the useful arts, as well as the perfecting thereof. 

24. The special schools now in existence shall be pre- 
served, without prejudice to the modifications which the gov- 
ernment believes that it must order for the economy and the 
welfare of the service. When the place of a professor shall 



Napoleon and Education 311 

become vacant, including the school of law which shall be 
established at Paris, it shall be filled by the First Consul 
from three candidates who shall be presented, the first by one 
of the classes of the national institute, the second by the in- 
spectors-general of studies, and the third by the professors 
of the school in which the place shall be vacant. 

25. The following new special schools shall be instituted : 
1st. Ten law schools can be established: each of them 

shall have four professors at most ; 

2d. Three new schools of medicine can be created, which 
shall have at most eight professors each, and one of which 
shall be devoted especially to the study and treatment of the 
diseases of the troops of the army and navy ; 

3d. Ihere shall be four schools of natural history, phys- 
ics, and chemistry, with four professors in each ; 

4th. The mechanical and chemical arts shall be taught in 
two special schools ; there shall be three professors in each of 
these schools ; 

.5th. A school of transcendental mathematics shall have 
three professors ; 

6th. A special school of geography, history, and public 
economy shall be composed of four professors ; 

7th. In addition to the schools of the arts of design ex- 
isting at Paris, Dijon, and Toulouse, there shall be formed 
a fourth one with four professors ; 

8th. The observatories in operation at present shall each 
have a professor of astronomy ; 

9th. There shall be in several lycees professors of the liv- 
ing languages ; 

lOth. There shall be appointed eight professors of music 
and composition. 

26. The first appointment of the professors for these new 
special schools shall be made in the following manner : The 
classes of the institute corresponding to the places whicji are 
to be filled shall present one person to the government; the 
three inspectors-general of studies shall present a second : the 
First Consul shall choose one of the two. 

After the organization of the new special schools, the First 
Consul shall appoint to the vacant places from among the 



312 Napoleon and Education 

three persons who shall be presented to him as is provided in 
article 24. 



Title VII. Of the National Pupils. 

32. Six thousand four hundred boarding pupils shall be 
supported at the expense of the Republic at the lycces and the 
special schools. 

23. Out of these six thousand four hundred pensioners, 
two thousand four hundred shall be chosen by the govern- 
ment from among the sons of military men and of civil, ju- 
dicial, administrative, or municipal functionaries' who shall 
have served the Republic well ; and for ten years only, from 
among the children of citizens of the departments united with 
France, although tbey may have been neither military men 
nor public functionaries. 

These two thousand four hundred pupils must be at least 
nine years of age and know how to read and write. 

34. The other four thousand pupils shall be taken from a 
double number of pupils of the secondary schools, who shall 
be presented to the government m consequence of an exam- 
ination and a competition. 

Each department shall furnish a number of these latter 
pupils proportionate to its population. 

35. The pupils supported in the lycees cannot remain there 
more than six years at the expense of the nation. At the 
end of their studies they shall undergo an examination, in 
consequence of which one-fifth of them shall be placed in the 
different special schools, according to the inclination of these 
pupils, in order to be supported there for from two to four 
years at the expense of the Republic. 

T^ B. Imperial Catechism. April 4, 1807. Extract, Larousse, 

Grande Dictionaire Universel, III, 567. 

Lesson VII. Continuation of the Fourth Commandment. 

Q. What are the duties of christians with respect to the 
princes who govern them, and what in particular are our du- 
ties towards Napoleon I, our Emperor? 

A. Christians owe to the princes who govern them, and 
we owe in particular to Napoleon I, our Emperor, love, re- 



Napoleon and Education 313 

sped, obedience, -fidelity, military service and the tributes laid 
for the preservation and defence of the Empire and of his 
throne; we also owe to him fervent prayers for his safety 
and the spiritual and temporal prosperity of the state. 

Q. Why are we bound to all these duties towards our 
Emperor? 

A. First of all, because God, who creates empires and dis- 
tributes them according to His will, in loading our Emperor 
with gifts, both in peace and in war, has established him as 
.our sovereign and has made him the minister of His power 
and His image upon the earth. To honor and to serve our 
Emperor is then to honor and to serve God himself. Second- 
ly, because our Lord Jesus Christ by his doctrine as well as 
by His example, has Himself taught us what we owe to our 
sovereign: He was born the subject of Caesar Augustus; He 
paid the prescribed impost; and just as tie ordered to render 
to God that which belongs to God, so He ordered to render 
to Caesar that which belongs to Caesar. 

Q. Are there not particular reasons which ought to attach 
us mere strongly to Napoleon I, our Emperor? 

A. Yes ; for it is he whom God has raised up under diffi- 
cult circumstances to re-establish the public v/orship of the 
holy religion of our fathers and to be the protector of it. He 
has restored and preserved public order by his profound and 
active wisdom ; he defends the state by his powerful arm ; 
he has become the anointed of the Lord through the con- 
secration which he received from the sovereign pontiff, head 
of the universal church. 

Q. What ought to be thought of those who may be lack- 
ing in their duty towards our Emperor? 

A. According to the apostle Saint Paul, they would be 
resisting the order estabhshed by God himself and would 
render themselves zvorthy of eternal damnation. 

Q. Will the duties which .are required of us towards our 
Emperor be equally binding with respect to his lawful suc- 
cessors in the order established by the constitutions of the 
Empire ? 

A. Yes, without doubt; for we read in the holj' scriptures, 
that God, Lord of heaven and earth, by an order of His su- 
preme will and through His providence, gives empires not 
only to one person in particular, but also to his family. 



314 Napoleon and Education 

C. Decree for Organizing the Imperial University, March 
17, 1808. Duvergier, Lois, XVI, 238-248. 

Title I. General Organization of the University. 

1. PubHc instruction in the entire empire is intrusted ex- 
clusively to the University. 

2. No school, no establishment for instruction v\rhatsoever, 
can be formed outside of the Imperial University and with- 
out the authorisation of its head. 

3. No one can open a school nor give instruction publicly 
without being a member of the Imperial University and grad- 
uated by one of its faculties. Nevertheless, the instruction 
in the seminaries is under the control of the archbishops and 
bishops, each for his own diocese. • They appoint and dismiss 
the directors and professors thereof. They are only re- 
quired to comply with the regulations for the seminaries, ap- 
proved by us. 

4. The Imperial University shall be composed of as many 
academies as there are courts of appeal. 

5. The schools belonging to each academy shall be placed 
in the following order : 

1st. The faculties for the sciences of investigation and the 
bestowal of degrees ; 

2d. The lycecs for the ancient languages, history, rhetoric, 
logic, and the elements of the mathematical and physical sci- 
ences ; 

3d. The colleges, secondary communal schools, for the 
elements of the ancient languages and the first principles of 
history and the sciences ; 

4th. The institutions and schools conducted by private in- 
structors, in which the instruction is allied to that of the 
colleges ; 

5th. The schools and boarding-schools belonging to pri- 
vate masters and devoted to studies less advanced than those 
of the institutions ; 

6th. The petty schools and primary schools, in which read- 
ing, writing, and the tirst principles of arithmetic are taught. 



Napoleon and Education 315 

Title II. Of the Composition of the Faculties. 

6. There shall be in the Imperial University five orders of 
faculties, to wit : 
1st. The faculties of theology, 
2d. The faculties of law, 
3d. The faculties of medicine, 

4th. The faculties of mathematical and physical sciences, 
5th. The faculties of letters. 

Title IV. Of the Order which shall be Established among 

the Members of the University; of the Ranks 

and the Title Attached to the Functions. 

I. Of the Ranks among the Functionaries. 

29. The functionaries of the Imperial University shall 
take rank among themselves in the following order : 

Ranks. 

Of Administration. Of Instruction. 

1st. The grand master. 

2d. The chancellor. 

3d. The treasurer. 

4th. The councillors for life. 

otli. The ordinary council- 
lors. 

6th. The inspectors of the 
University. 

7th. The rectors of the acad- 
emy. 

9th. The deans of the facul- 
ties. 
10th. The professors of the faculties 

11th. The head-masters of 

12th. The critics' of the ly- 
cces. 

13th. The professors of the It/cees. 

14th. The principals of the 
colleges. 

15th. The fellows. 

16th. Regents of the colleges. 

17th. The heads of the insti- 
tutions. 

ISth. The masters of the 
boarding schools. 

19th. The masters of studies. 

30. After the first formation of the Imperial University, 
the order of the ranks shall be followed in the selection of 
the functionaries, and no one can be appointed to a place 
until after having passed through the subordinate places. 

The places shall form also a field of action which shall pre- 
sent, for knowledge and good conduct, the promise of rising 
to the highest ranks of the Imperial University. 



3i6 Napoleon and Education 

Title V. Of the Principles of Instruction in the 
Schools of the University. 



38. AH the schools of the Imperial University shall take 
for the basis of their instruction : 

1st. The precepts of the catholic religion; 

2d. Fidelity to the Emperor, to the imperial monarchy, the 
depository of the welfare of the peoples, and to the Napole- 
onic dynasty, the conservator of the unity of France and of 
all the liberal ideas proclaimed by the constitutions ; 

3d. Obedience to the rules of the teaching corps, which 
have for their object the uniformity of instruction, and which 
tend to train for the state citizens attached to their religion, 
to their prince, to their fatherland, and to their family ; 

4th. All the professors of theology shall be required to con- 
form themselves to the provisions of the edict of 1682, con- 
cerning the four propositions contained in the declaration of 
the clergy of France of the said year. 

Title VI. Of the Obligations which the Members of the 
University Contract. 

39. By the terms of article 2 of the law of May 10, 1806, 
the members of the Imperial University at the time of their 
installation shall contract by oath the civil obligations, special 
and temporary, which shall bind them to the instructional 
corps. 

40. They shall bind themselves to the precise observance 
of the rules and regulations of the University. 

41. They shall promise obedience to the grand master in 
all that he shall command them for our service and for the 
good of the instruction. 

42. They shall bind themselves not to leave the instruc- 
tional corps and their functions until after having obtained 
the consent of the grand master therefor in the forms which 
shall be prescribed. 

43. The grand master can release a member of the Uni- 
versity from his obligations and permit him to leave the 
corps : in case of refusal by the grand master, and of persist- 
ence on the part of the member of the University in the reso- 



Napoleon and Education 317 

lution to leave the corps, the grand master shall be required 
to deliver to him a letter of exeat after three consecutive de- 
mands repeated at intervals of two months. 

44. Whoever shall have left the instructional body with- 
out having fulfilled these formalities shall be removed from 
the roll of the University and shall incur the penalty attached 
to that removal. 

45. The members of the University shall not be able to 
accept any salaried public or private position without the 
properly attested permission of the grand master. 

46. The members of the University shall be required to 
inform the grand master and his officers of everything in the 
establishments of public instruction which may come to their 
knowledge that is contrary to the doctrine and the principles 
of the instructional corps. 

47. The disciplinary penalties which the violation of the 
duties and obligations may entail shall be : 

1st. Arrests ; 

2d. Reprimand in the presence of an academic council; 

3d. Censure in the presence of the council of the Univer- 
sity ; . 

4th. Change to a subordinate employment ; 

Sth. Suspension from duty for a fixed time, with or with- 
out total or partial deprivation of stipend ; 

6th. Reform or retirement given before the time of emer- 
itation, with a stipend less than the pension of the emerited ; 

7th. Lastly, removal from the roll of the University. 

48. Every person who shall have incurred removal shall 
be disqualified for employment in any public administration. 

49. The relations between the penalties and the infraction 
of duties, as well as the grading of these penalties according 
to the different employments, shall be established by rules. 

Title VII. Of the Functions and Prerogatives of the 
Grand Master of the University. 

50. The Imperial University shall be administered and 
governed by the grand master, who shall be appointed and 
dismissed by us. 

51. The grand master shall have the selection to the ad- 
ministrative places and to the chairs of the colleges and the 



3i8 Napoleon and Education 

lycecs; he shall likewise appoint the officers of the academies 
and those of the University, and he shall make all the pro- 
motions in the instructional corps. 

52. Be shall install the persons who shall have obtained 
the chairs of the faculties, according to the competition whose 
method shall be determined by the council of the University. 

54. He shall grant permission to instruct and to open 
houses of instruction to the graduates of the University who 
shall ask it from him and who shall have fulfilled the con- 
dition required by the regulations in order to obtain this per- 
mission. 

55. The grand master shall be presented to us each year 
by the minister of the interior, in order to submit to us: ist, 
the list of the establishments of instruction, and particularly 
of the boarding schools, institutions, colleges and lycees; 2d, 
that of the otHcers of the academies and of the officers of 
the University ; 3d, the promotion list of the members of 
the instructional corps who shall have merited it by their 
services. He shall cause these lists to be published at the 
opening of the academic year. 

56. He can transfer from one academy to another the 
regents and principals of the colleges maintained by the com- 
munes, as well as the functionaries and the professors of 
the lycees, upon taking the opinion of three members of the 
council. 

57. He shall have the authority to impose arrests, repri- 
mand, censure, the change and suspension of functions (art- 
icle 47) upon members of the University who shall have 
been delinquent enough in their duties to incur these penalties. 

60. He shall give to the different schools the regulations 
for discipline, which shall be discussed by the council of the 
University. 

61. He shall convoke and preside over this council, and 
he shall appoint its members, as well as those of the academic 
councils, as shall be provided in the following titles. 



Napoleon and Education 319 

Title IX, Of the Council of the University. 

Of the Formation of the Council. 

69. The council of the University shall be composed of 
thirty members. 

70. Ten of these members, of whom six shall be chosen 
from among the inspectors and four from among the rec- 
tors, shall be councillors for life or titular councillors of the 
University. They shall be commissioned by us. 

The ordinary councillors, to the number of twenty, shall 
be taken from among the inspectors, the deans and profes- 
sors of the faculties, and the head-masters of the lycees.- 

71. Every year the grand master shall make up the list 
of the twenty ordinary councillors, who shall complete the 
council for the year. 

75. The council shall be divided for work into five sec- 
tions : 

The first shall occupy itself with the condition and the 
improvement of the studies ; 

The second with the administration and the police of the 
schools ; 

The third with their accounts ; 

The fourth with litigious matters ; 

And the fifth with affairs of the seal of the University. 

Each section shall examine the matters which shall be 
sent to it by the grand master, and shall make report thereof 
to the council, which shall deliberate thereon. 

Of the Prerogatives of the Council. 

y6. The grand master shall propose for the discussion of 
the council all the projects for regulations and rules which 
may be made for the schools of different degrees. 

yy. All questions relative to the police, the accounting and 
the general administration of the faculties, the lycees, and 
the colleges shall be decided by the council, which shall fix 
the budgets of these schools upon the report of the treasurer 
of the University. 

78. It shall p?ss judgment upon the accusations of the 
superiors and the complaints of the subordinates. 

79. It alone can impose upon the members of the Uni- 



320 Napoleon and Education 

versity the penalties for reformation or removal (article 47) 
after investigation and examination of the offences which 
shall involve condemnation to these penalties. 

80. The coimcil shall admit or reject the works which 
shall have been or ought to be put into the hands of the pu- 
pils or placed in the libraries of the lycees or colleges ; it 
shall examine the new works which shall be proposed for the 
instruction of the same schools. 

81. It shall hear the report of the inspectors upon return 
from their missions. 

82. The htigious matters relative to the general admin 
i'^tration of the academies and their schools, a.nd in partic- 
ular those which shall concern the members of the Univer- 
sity in relation to their functions, shall be carried to the coun- 
cil of the University. The decisions, taken by majority of 
the votes and after an exhaustive discussion, shall be exe- 
cuted by the gra,nd master. Nevertheless, in this he can have 
recourse to cur Council of State against the decisions upon 
the report of our minister of the interior. 

83. In conformity with the proposal of the grand master 
and upon the presentation of cur minister of the interior, a 
commission of the council of the University can be admitted 
to our Council of State in order to solicit the reform, of the 
regulations and the decisions interpretative of the law. 

84. The minutes of the meetings of the council of the 
University shall be sent each month to our minister of the 
interior : the members of the council may cause to be inserted 
in these minutes the reasons for their opinions, when they 
differ from the opinion adopted by the council. 



Title XI. Of the Inspectors of the University and of 
the Inspectors of the Academies. 

go. The general inspectors of the University shall be ap- 
pointed by the grand master, and taken from among the offi- 
cers of the University; their number shall be at least twenty 
and cannot exceed thirty. 

91. They shall be divided into five orders, as are the fac- 
ulties; they shall not belong to any academy in particular; 
they shall visit them in turns and upon the order of the 



Napoleon and Education 321 

grand master, in order to ascertain the condition of the stud- 
ies and of tile discipline in the faculties, the lycces, and the 
colleges, to make certain the accuracy and the talents of the 
professors, regents and masters of study, to examine the 
scholars, and lastly, to supervise their administration and 
accounts. 

Title XII. Of the Rectors of the Academies. 

94. Each academy shall be governed by a rector under the 
immediate orders of the grand master, who shall appoint 
him for five years, and shall choose him from among the 
officers of the academies. 

97. They [the rectors] shall cause the deans of the fac- 
ulties, head-masters of the lycces, and principals of the col- 
leges to give accounts to them; of the condition of these es- 
tablishments ; and they shall direct their administration, es- 
pecially in relation to the severity of the discipline and econ- 
omy in the expenses. 

98. They shall cause to be inspected and looked after by 
the individual inspectors of academies, the schools, and 
especially the colleges, institutions, and boarding schools, and 
they themselves shall make visits as often as it is possible for 
them. 

Title XIII. Of the Regulations to be Given to the 

Lycees, Colleges, Institutions, Boarding Schools 

and Primary Schools. 

loi. For the future, and after the complete organization 
of the University, the head-masters and critics of the lycces. 
the principals and regents of the colleges, as well as the 
masters of study of these schools, shall be bound to celibacy 
and to the life in common. 

The professors of the lycces can be married and, in that 
case, they shall dwell outside of the lycee. The celibate pro- 
fessors can dwell therein, and take advantage of the life in 
common. 



322 Napoleon and Education 

104. There shall be nothing printed and published to an- 
nounce the studies, the discipline, the boarding conditions,, 
or upon the exercises of the pupils in the schools, unless the 
different programs have been submitted to the rectors and 
councils of the academies and approval has been obtained for 
them. ' 

105. Upon the proposal of the rectors and the advice of 
the inspectors, and after an information made by the aca- 
demic councils, the grand master, after having consulted with 
the council of the University, can cause the closing of the 
institutions and schools in which there shall have been dis- 
covered serious abuses and principles contrary to those which 
the University professes. 

107. Measures shall be taken by the University in order 
that the art of instructing in reading, writing, and the first 
principles of arithmetic in the primary schools shall hence- 
forth not be exercised except by masters sufficiently enlight- 
ened to impart readily and accurately these fundamental ac- 
quirements necessary for all men. 

108. For that purpose there shall be established under the 
care of each academy, and within the precincts of the col- 
leges or the lycces, one or several normal classes, for the 
purpose of training masters for the primary schools. The 
most suitable methods for improving the art of teaching 
reading, writing, and cyphering shall be set forth there. 



Title XVI. Of the Costumes. 

128. The common costume for all the members of the 
University shall be the black coat with a palm embroidered 
m blue silk upon the left part of the breast. 

129. The regents and professors shall give their lectures 
in black famine robes. Over the robe and upon the left shoul- 
der shall be placed the shoulder knot, which shall vary in 
color according to the faculties, and in braiding only accord- 
ing to the grades. 



Consulate for Life 323 

Title XIX. General Provisions. 

143. The Imperial University and its grand master, 
charged exclusively by us with the care of education and pub- 
lic instruction in all the empire, shall aim without respite 
to improve the instruction of all sorts, and to favor the com- 
position of classical works ; they shall particularly take care 
that the instruction of the sciences shall always be upon the 
level of acquired knowledge and that the spirit of system 
shall never arrest their progress. 

144 and last. We reserve to ourselves to recognize and 
reward in a particular manner the great services which may 
be rendered by the members of the University for the in- 
struction of our peoples ; and also to reform, and that by de- 
crees taken in our council, every decision, rule, or act ema- 
nating from the council of the University or the grand mas- 
ter, whenever we shall deem it useful for the good of the 
state. 



66. Documents upon the Consulate for Life. 

The first four of these documents show how the ten years' con- 
sulate was transformed into a life consulate. The enumeration of 
reasons in document B also shows something of the popular esti- 
mate put upon Napoleon's achievements. Document B was in fact 
a new constitution, being often called the Constitution of the Tear 
X. if- should be compared with Iha Constitution of the Year VIII 
(No. 58). The precise changes effected in all the more important 
institutions and methods for carrying on the government should be 
carefully noted. 

References. Cambridge Modern History. IX, 19 ; Fournier, 
Napoleon, 238-241 : Rose, Napoleon, I, 283-305 ; Sloane, Napoleon, 
II. Ch. XXII : Lanfrey, Nnnoieon. 11, 225-238; Lavisse and Ram- 
baud. Histoire oenerale, IX, 24-30 ; Aulard, Revolution francaise, 
748-758 ; Jaurfes, Histoire socialiste, VI, 166-172. 

A. Declaration of the Tribunate. May 6, 1802 (16 Floreal, 
Year X). Moniteiir, May 7, 1802 (17 Floreal, Year X). 

The Tribunate expresses the wish that there should be 
given to General Bonaparte, First Consul of the Republic, a 
striking token of national recognition. 

The Tribunate orders that this wish shall be addressed by 
a messenger of state to the Conservative Senate, the Legis- 
lative Body and the government. 



324 Consulate for Life 

B. Re-election by the Senate. May 8, 1802 (18 Floreal, 
Year X.) Moniteur, May 11, 1802 (21 Floreal, Year X). 

The Senate, assembled in the number of members pre- 
scribed by article 90 of the constitutional act ; 

In view of the message of the consuls of the Republic 
transmitted by three orators of the government, and relative 
to the peace of France with England; 

After having heard its special commission, charged by its 
order of the i6th of this month to present to it views upon 
the testimonial of national recognition which the Senate has 
in mind to give to the First Consul of the Republic; 

Considering that, under the circumstances in which the 
Republic finds itself, it is the duty of the Conservative Sen- 
ate to employ all the means which the constitution has put 
in its power in order to give to the government the stability 
which alone multiplies resources, inspires confidence abroad, 
establishes credit within, reassures allies, discourages secret 
enemies, turns away the scourge of war, permits the enjoy- 
ment of the fruits of peace, and leaves to wisdom time to 
carry out whatever it can conceive for the welfare of a free 
people ; 

Considering, moreover, that the supreme magistrate who, 
after having so many times led the republican legions to vic- 
tory, delivered Italy, triumphed in Europe, in Africa, in Asia, 
and filled the world with his renown, has preserved France 
from the horrors of anarchy which were menacing it, broken 
the revolutionary sickle, dispersed the factions, extinguished 
civil discords and religious disturbances, added to the bene- 
fits of liberty those of order and of security, hastened the 
progress of enlightenment, consoled humanity, and pacified 
the continent and the seas, has the greatest right to the rec- 
ognition of his fellow citizens, as well as the admiration of 
posterity ; 

That the wish of the Tribunate, which has come to the 
Senate in the sitting of this day, under these circumstances, 
can be regarded as that of the French nation ; 

That the Senate cannot express more solemnly to the First 
Consul the recognition of the nation than in giving him a 
striking proof of the confidence which he has inspired in the 
French people ; 

Considering, finally, that the second and the third consuls 



Consulate for Life 325 

have worthily seconded the glorious labors of the First Con- 
sul of the Republic ; 

In consequence of all these motives, and the votes having 
been collected by secret ballot ; 

The Senate decrees as follows : 

1. The Conservative Senate, in the name of the French 
people, testifies to its recognition of the consuls of the Re- 
public. 

2. The Conservative Senate re-elects Citizen Napoleon 
Bonaparte, First Consul of the French Republic for the ten 
years which .shall immediately follow the ten for which he 
has been appointed by article 39 of the constitution. 

3. The present senatus-consultum shall be transmitted by 
a message to the Legislative Body, the Tribunate, and the 
Consuls of the Republic. 

C; Message of the First Consul to the Senate. May 9, 
1802 (19 Floreal, Year X). Moniteur, May 11, 1802 (21 
Floreal, Year X). 

Senators : 

The honorable proof of esteem contained in your resolu- 
tion of the i8th will ever be graven upon my heart. 

The suffrage of the people has invested me with the su- 
preme magistracy. I should not think myself assured of 
their confidence, if the act which retained me there was not 
again sanctioned by 'their suffrage. 

In the three years which have just passed away fortune 
has smiled upon the Republic; but fortune is inconstant, and 
how many men whom it had crowned with its favors have 
lived on some years too many. 

The interest of my glory and that of my happiness would 
seem to have marked the termination of my public life at the 
moment in which the peace of the world is proclaimed. 

But the glory and happiness of the citizen must be silent, 
when the interest of the state and the public well-being sum- 
mon him. 

You deem that I owe to the people a new sacrifice: I will 
make it, if the wish 'of the people commands what your suf- 
frage authorises. 

Signed, Bonaparte. 



^ 



326 Consulate for Life 

D. Order of the Consuls. May lo, 1802 (20 Floreal, Year 
X). Moniteur, May 11, 1802 (21 Floreal, Year X). 

The consuls of the Republic, upon the reports of the min- 
isters, the Council of State having been heard ; 

In view of the act of the Conservative Senate of the i8th 
of this month ; 

The message of the First Consul to the Conservative Sen- 
ate, by date of yesterday, the igth ; 

Considering that the resolution of the First Consul is a 
striking homage rendered to the sovereignty of the people ; 
that the people, consulted upon their dearest interests, ought 
not to know any other limits than their own interests, orders 
as follows : 

1. The French people shall be consulted upon this ques- 
tion : 

Shall Napoleon Bonaparte be Consul for life? 

2. There shall be opened in each commune registers, in 
which the citizens shall be invited to express their wish upon 
that question. 

E. Senatus-Consultum. August 4, 1802 (16 Thermidor, 
Year X). Duvergier, Lois, XIII, 262-267. 

Title I. 

1. Each justice of the peace jurisdiction has a cantonal 
assembly. 

2. Each communal district or sub-prefecture district has 
a district electoral college. 

3. Each department has a department electoral college. 

Title II. Of the Cantonal Assemblies. 

4. The cantonal assembly consists of all the citizens dom- 
iciled in the canton and who are enrolled there upon the dis- 
trict communal list. 

Counting from the date at which, by the terms of the con- 
stitution, the communal lists must be renewed, the cantonal 
assembly shall be composed of all the citizens domiciled in 
the canton and who there enjoy the rights of citizenship. 

5. The First Consul appoints the president of the cantonal 
assembly. 



Consulate for Life 327 

His functions continue for five years : he can be reappointed 
indefinitely. 

He is assisted by four tellers, two of whom are the eldest 
and the other two the most highly taxed of the citizens hav- 
ing the right to vote in the assembly of the canton. 

The president and the four tellers appoint the secretary. 

6. The cantonal assembly divides itself into sections in 
order to perform the operations which belong to it. 

At th€ first meeting of each assembly its organization and 
forms shall be determined by a regulation issued by the gov- 
ernment. 

7. The president of the cantonal assembly appoints the 
presidents of the sections. 

Their functions terminate with each sectional assembly. 

They are each assisted by two tellers, one of whom is the 
eldest, and the other the most highly taxed of the citizens 
having the right to vote in the section. 

8. The cantonal assembly selects two citizens from whom 
the First Consul chooses the justice of the peace of the can- 
ton. 

It likewise selects two citizens for each vacant place of 
substitute justice of the peace. 

9. The justices of the peace and their substitutes are ap- 
pointed for ten years. 

10. In cities of five thousand souls, the cantonal assembly 
presents two citizens for each of the places in the municipal 
council. In cities in which there are several justices of the 
peace or several cantonal assemblies, each assembly shall like- 
wise present two citizens for each place in the municipal 
council. 

11. The members of the municipal councils are taken by 
each cantonal assembly from the list of the one hundred larg- 
est tax-payers of the canton. This list shall be drawn up 
and printed by order of the prefect. 

12. The municipal councils are renewed by half every ten 
years. 

13. The First Consul chooses the mayors and deputies 
within the municipal councils ; they are in office for five years : 
they can be reappointed. 

14. The cantonal assembly appoints to the district elector- 
al college the number of members assigned to it in ac- 



328 Consulate for Life 

cordance with the number of citizens of which it is com- 
posed. 

15. It appoints to the department electoral college, out 
of a list to be spoken of hereafter, the number of members 
allowed to it. 

16. The members of the electoral colleges must be dom- 
iciled in their respective districts and departments. 

17. The government convokes the cantonal assemblies, 
and determines the time of their duration and the purpose 
of their meeting. 

Title III. Of the Electoral Colleges. 

18. The district electoral colleges have one member per 
five hundred inhabitants domiciled in the district. 

Nevertheless, the number of members cannot exceed two 
hundred nor be less than one hundred and twenty. 

19. The department electoral colleges have one member 
per thousand inhabitants domiciled in the department; never- 
theless, these members cannot exceed three hundred nor be 
less than two hundred. 

20. 'The members of the electoral colleges are for life. 

21. If a member of an electoral college is denounced to 
the government as being implicated in some act prejudicial to 
honor or to the fatherland, the government summons the 
college to express its opinion ; there must be three-fourths of 
the votes in order to cause a denounced member to lose his 
place in the college. 

22. Places in the electoral college are lost for the same 
causes which entail loss of citizenship. 

They are also lost when, without legitimate excuse, one 
has not participated in three successive meetings. 

23. The First Consul appoints, at each session, the presi- 
dents of the electoral colleges. 

The president alone has the policing of the electoral col- 
lege when it is assembled. 

24. The electoral colleges appoint, at each session, two 
tellers and a secretary. 

25. In order to provide for the formation of the depart- 
ment electoral colleges, there shall be prepared in each de- 
partment, under orders of the minister of finances, a list of 
the six hundred citizens most highly rated upon the land, 



Consulate for Life 329 

personal property, and sumptuary tax-rolls and upon the roll 
of licenses. 

There is added to the amount of the tax in the domicile 
of the department that which can be proven to have been 
paid in the other parts of the territory of France and its col- 
onies. 

This list shall be printed. 

26. The cantonal assembly shall take from this list the 
members whom it must appoint to the electoral college of the 
department. 

27. The First Consul can add to the district electoral col- 
lege ten members taken from among the citizens belonging 
to the Legion of Honor, or who have rendered the services. 

He can add to each department electoral college twenty 
citizens, ten of them taken from among the thirty largest tax- 
payers of the department, and the other ten from among the 
members of the Legion of Honor or the citizens who have 
rendered services. 

For these appointments he is not subject to the fixed 
periods. 

28. The district electoral colleges present to the First 
Consul two citizens domiciled in the district for each vacant 
place in the district council. 

At least one of the citizens must be taken from outside 
of the college which presents him. 

The district councils are renewed by thirds every five 
years. 

29. The district electoral colleges present at each meeting 
two citizens to make part of the list from which the members 
of the Tribunate must be chosen. 

At least one of these citizens must necessarily be taken 
from outside of the college which presents him. 

Both can be taken from the outside of the department. 

30. The department electoral colleges present to the 
First Consul for each vacant place in the general council of 
the department two citizens domiciled in the department. 

At least one of these citizens must necessarily be taken 
from outside of the electoral college that presents him. 

The general councils of the department are renewed by 
thirds every five years. 

31. The department electoral colleges present at each 



330 Consulate for Life 

meeting two citizens in order to form the list from which 
the members of the Senate are appointed. 

At least one must necessarily be taken from outside the 
college which presents him ; and both can be taken from out- 
side the department. 

They must have the age and qualifications required by the 
constitution. 

32. The department and district electoral colleges each 
present two citizens domiciled in the department in order to 
form the list from which the members of the deputation in 
the Legislative Body must be appointed. 

One of these citizens must necessarily be taken from out- 
side the college that presents him. 

There must be three times as many different candidates 
upon the list formed by the union of the presentations of the 
department and district electoral colleges as there are vacant 
places. 

33. One can be a member of a communal council and of 
a district or department electoral college. 

One cannot be at the same time a member of a district 
college and a department college. 

34. The members of the Legislative Bodj^ and of the 
Tribunate cannot be present at the meetings of the electoral 
college to which they belong. All other public functionaries 
have the right to be present and to vote there. 

35. No cantonal assembly proceeds to make appointments 
for the places which belong to it in an electoral college, ex- 
cept when these places are reduced to two-thirds^ 

36. The electoral colleges assemble only in virtue of an 
act of convocation issued by the government, and in the 
place which is assigned to them. 

They cannot engage in any operations except those for 
which they are convoked, nor continue their sittings beyond 
the term fixed by the act of convocation. 

If they exceed these limits the government has the right 
to dissolve them. 

Z7- The electoral colleges cannot directly or indirectly, 
under any pretext whatever, correspond with each other. 

38. The dissolution of an electoral body makes necessary 
the renewal of all its members. 



Consulate for Life 331 Ae^ 

Title IV. Of the Consuls. 

39. The consuls are for Hfe. 
They are members of the Senate, and preside over it. 

40. The second and third consuls are appointed by the 
Senate upon the presentation of the first. 

41. For that purpose, when one of the two places becomes 
vacant, the First Consul presents to the Senate a first choice; 
if he is not appointed, he presents a second; if the second is 
not accepted, he presents a third who is necessarily appointed. 

42. When the First Consul thinks it seasonable, he pre- 
sents a citizen to succeed him after his death, in the form in- 
dicated by the preceding article. 

43. The citizen appointed to succeed the First Consul 
takes on oath to the Republic at the hands of the First Con- 
sul, assisted by the second and third consuls, in the presence 
of the Senate, the ministers, the Council of State, the Legis- 
lative Body, the Tribunate, the tribunal of cassation, the arch- 
bishops, the bishops, the presidents of the appellate tribunals, 
the presidents of the electoral colleges, the presidents of the 
cantonal assemblies^ the grand officers of the Legion of 
Honor, and the mayors of the twenty-four principal cities of 
the Republic. 

The secretary of state prepares the record of the taking of 
the oath. 

44. The oath is thus expressed : 
'T swear to maintain the constitution, to respect liberty of 

conscience, to oppose a return to feudal institutions, never 
to make war except for the defence and glory of the Repub- 
lic, and to employ the authority with which I shall be in- 
vested only for the good of the people, from whom and for 
whom I shall have received it." 

45. Having taken the oath, he takes a seat in the Senate 
immediately next to the Third Consul. 

46. The First Consul can deposit in the archives of the 
government his opinion upon the appointment of his succes- 
sor, in order to be presented to the Senate after his death. 

47. In that case he sumimons the second and third con- 
suls, the ministers, and the presidents of the sections of the 
Council of State. 

In their presence he transfers to the secretary of state th(=' 
paper, sealed with his seal, in which his opinion is contained. 



332 Consulate for Life 

This paper is attested by all those who- are present at the act. 
The secretary of state deposits it in the archives of the 
government in the presence of the ministers and the presi- 
dents of the sections of the Council of State. 

48. The First Consul can withdraw^ his deposit, observing 
the formalities prescribed in the preceding article. 

49. After the death of the First Consul, if his opinion 
remains on deposit, the paper virhich contains it is withdrav^fu 
from the archives of the government by the secretary of state, 
in the presence of the ministers and presidents of the sections 
of the Council of State. The integrity and authenticity of 
it is recognized in the presence of the second and third 
consuls. It is forwarded to the Senate with a message of the 
government, together with the dispatch of the records which 
have established its deposit, authenticity, and integrity. 

50. If the person presented by the First Consul is not ap- 
pointed, the second and third consuls each present one : in 
case of non-appointment, they each present another, and one 
of the two is necessarily appointed. 

51. If the First Consul has not left any presentation, the 
second and third consuls make their separate presentations; 
one first and one second ; and if neither of them obtains the 
appointment, a third. The Senate necessarily appoints from 
the third. 

52. In any case the presentations and the appointment 
must be consummated within the twenty-four hours whicn 
shall follow the death of the First Consul. 

53. The law fixes for the life of each First Consul the 
list of the expenses of the government. 

Title V. Of the Senate. 

54. The Senate regulates by an organic senatus-consultum : 
1st. The constitution of the colonies: 

2d. All which has not been provided for by the constitu- 
tion and which is necessary for its operation : 

3d. It interprets the articles of the constitution which 
give rise to different interpretations. 

55. The Senate by the decrees entitled senatus-consulta : 
1st. Suspends for five years the functions of juries in the 

departments in which that measure is necessary; 



Consulate for Life 333 

2d. Declares, when circumstances require it, the depart- 
ments that are outside of the constitution ; 

3d. Determines the time within which the persons arrest- 
ed in virtue of article 46 of the constitution must be brought 
before the tribunals, when they have not been within ten 
days after their arrest; 

. 4th. Annuls the judgrnents of the tribunals when they 
are injurious to the security of the state ; 

5th. Dissolves the Legislative Body and the Tribunate ; 

6th. Appoints the consuls. 

56. The organic senatus-consulta and the senatus-consulta 
are considered by the Senate, upon the initiative of the gov- 
ernment. 

A simple majority suffices for the senatus-consulta ; there 
must be two-thirds of the votes of the members present for 
an organic senatus-consultum. 

57. The proposals for senatus-consulta, made in conse- 
quence of articles 55 and 56, are discussed in a privy council, 
composed of the consuls, two ministers, two senators, two 
councillors of state, and two grand officers of the Legion of 
Honor. 

The First Consul designates at each sitting the members 
who shall compose the privy council. 

58. The first council ratifies treaties of peace and alli- 
ance after having taken the opinion of the privy council. 

Before promulgating them, he gives notice of them to the 
Senate. 

59. The decree of appointment of a member of the Leg- 
islative Body, the Tribunate, and the tribunal of cassation is 
entitled arrete. 

60. The decrees of the Senate relative to its police and its 
internal administration are entitled deliberations. 

61. In the course of the year XI appointments shall be 
made of the forty citizensi to complete the number of the 
eighty senators fixed by article 15 of the constitution. 

These appointments shall be made by the Senate, upon 
the presentation of the First Consul, who, for this presenta- 
tion and for the further presentations within the number of 
eighty, takes three persons from the list of citizens prepared 
by the electoral colleges. 

62. The members of the grand council of the Legion of 



334 Consulate for'X,ife 

Honor are members of the Senate, whatever may be their 
ages. 

63. The First Consul can, in addition, appoint to the 
Senate without previous presentation by the department elec- 
toral colleges, citizens distinguished by their services, and their 
talents, on condition, nevertheless, that they shall be of the 
age required by the constitution, and that the number of sen- 
ators shall in no case exceed one hundred and twenty. 

64. The senators can be consuls, ministers, members of 
the Legion of Honor, inspectors ' of public instruction, and 
employees in extraordinary and temporary missions. 

The Senate appoints each year two of its members to fill 
the functions of secretaries. 

65. The ministers have seats in the Senate, but without 
deliberative voice unless they are senators. 

Title VI. Of the Councillors of State. 

66. The councillors of state shall never exceed the num- 
ber of fifty. 

67. The Council of State is divided into sections. 

68. The ministers have rank, seats and deliberative voice 
in the Council of State. 

Title VII. Of the Legislative Body. 

69. Each department shall have in the Legislative Body a 
number of m.embers proportionate to the extent of its popula- 
tion, in conformity with the appended table. 

70. All members of the Legislative Body belonging to the 
same deputation are appointed at the same time. 

71. The departments of the Republic are divided into five 
series, in conformity with the appended table. 

^2. The present deputies are classed in the five series. 

TZ- They shall be renewed in the year to which shall be- 
long the series in which the department shall be placed to 
which they shall have been attached. 

74. Nevertheless, the deputies who have been appointed 
in the year X shall com])lete their five years. 

75. The government convokes, adjourns and prorogues 
the Legislative Body. 



Consulate for Life 335 

Title VIII. Of the Tribunate. 

']6. Dating from the Year XIII, the Tribunate shall be re- 
duced to fifty members. 

Half of the fifty shall retire every third year. Until this 
reduction, the retiring members shall not be replaced. 

The Tribunate is divided intO' sections. 

'j'j. The Legislative Body and the Tribunate are renewed 
in their whole membership when the Senate has decreed their 
dissolution. 

Title IX. Of Justice and the Tribunals. 

78. There is a high-judge minister of justice. 

79. He has a distinguished place in the Senate and the 
Council of State. 

80. He presides over the tribunal of cassation and the 
tribunals of appeal, when the government thinks it desirable. 

81. He has the right of surveillance and reproof over the 
tribunals, the members who compose them, and the justices 
of the peace. 

82. The tribunal of cassation, presided over by him, has 
the right of censure and discipline over the tribunals of appeal 
and the criminal tribunals : it can, for grave cause, suspend 
the judges from their functions, and cite them before the 
high judge, in order to there render account of their conduct. 

83. The tribunals of appeal have the right of surveillance 
over the civil tribunals of their jurisdiction, and the civil 
tribunals over the justices of the peace of their district. 

84. The commissioner of the government to the tribunal 
of cassation supervises the commissioners to the tribunals of 
appeal and the criminal tribunals. 

Tile commissioners to the tribunals of appeal supervise 
the commissioners to the civil tribunals. 

85. The members of the tribunal of cassation are ap- 
pointed by the Senate, upon the presentation of the First Con- 
sul. 

The First Consul presents three persons for each vacant 
place. 

Title X. Right of Pardon. 

86. The First Consul has the right to pardon. 



33^ Legion of Honor Law 

He exercises it after having heard in a privy council the 
high-judge, tvi^o ministers, two senators, two councillors of 
state, and two judges of the tribunal of cassation. 

[The appended tables are omitted.] 



67. Law for Organizing the Legion of Honor. 

May 19, 1802 (29 Floreal, Year X). Duvergier, Lois, XIII, 199- 
200. 

This law created one of the most enduring and characteristic 

of the institutions of Napoleon. It still exists and membership is 

highly prized. The provisions in relation to the admission 

of members and the oath of the legion should be particularly no- 
ticed. 

Refekences. Canihrklge Modern History, IX, 19-20 ; Rose, 
Napoleon. I, 262-2<i5 ; Sloane. Napoleon, II. 158-159 ; Lanfrey, Na- 
poleon, II, 231-234 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire generate, IX, 
31-32. 

Title I. Creation and Organization of the Legion of 
Honor. 

1. In fulfillment of article 87 of the constitution, concern- 
ing military rewards, and in order also to reward civil serv- 
ices and virtues, there shall be formed a Legion of Ho.nor. 

2. This legion shall be composed of a grand council 01 
administration and fifteen cohorts, each of which shall have 
its own headquarters. 

3. National lands providing two hundred thousand francs 
of income shall be appropriated for each cohort. 

4. The grand council of administration shall be composed 
of seven grand officers, to wit : the three consuls, and four 
other members, one of whom shall be appointed from among 
the senators by the Senate, another from among the mem- 
bers of the Legislative Body by the Legislative Body, another 
from among the members of the Tribunate by the Tribunate, 
and, lastly, one from among the councillors of state by the 
Council of the State. The members of the grand council of 
administration shall retain during their lives the title of grand 
officer, even though they m.ay be replaced as the result of 
new elections. 

5. The First Consul is ex-officio head of the Legion and 
president of the grand council of administration. 



Legion of Honor Law ^2)7 






6. Each cohort shall be composed of seven grand officers, 
twenty commandants, thirty officers, and three hundred and I 
fifty legionaries. 

Memberships in the legion are for life. 

7. There shall be appropriated for each grand officer five 
thousand francs ; 

For each commandant, two thousand francs ; 
For every officer, a thousand francs ; 
For each legionary, two hundred and fifty francs. 
These stipends shall be taken from the lands appropriated 
for each cohort. 

8. Each person admitted to the legion shall swear upon 
his honor to devote himself to the service of the Republic, to 
the preservation of its territory in its integrity, to the defence 
of its government, its laws and the properties which they 
have consecrated ; to combat with all the means that justice, 
reason and the laws 'authorise, every undertaking having a 
tendency to re-establish the feudal regime, or to reproduce 
the titles and qualties which were symbolical of it ; lastly, to 
assist with all his power in the maintenance of liberty and 
equality. 

9. There shall be established in each head-quarters of a ' 
cohort a hospital and dwellings to receive either the members 
of the legion whose age, infirmities or wounds may have 
made it impossible for them to serve the state, or the military 
men who, after having been wounded in the war for liberty, 
may find themselves in need. 

Title II. Composition. 

1. All military men who have received arms of honor are 
members of the legion. 

The military men who have rendered important services 
to the state in the war for liberty ; 

The citizens who by their knowledge, their talents or their 
virtues, have contributed to the establishment or defence of 
the principles of the Republic, or have made justice or the 
public administration loved and respected shall be eligible for 
appointment. 

2. The grand council of administration shall appoint the 
members of the legion. 

3. During the ten years of peace which shall follow the 



338 Colonial Slavery Law 

first formation, the places which become vacant shall remain 
vacant to the extent of a tenth, and in succession to the 'ex- 
tent of a fifth. These places shall be filled only at the end 
of the first campaign. 

4. In times of war there shall be no appointments to 
vacant places except at the end of each campaign. 

5. In times of war distinguished acts shall furnish a title 
for all the grades. 

"^ 6. In times of peace one must have had twenty-five years 

' of military service in order to be appointed a member of the 

legion; the years of service in time of war shall count double 

and each campaign of the last war shall count for four years. 

7. Great services rendered to the state m legislative func- 
tions, diplomacy, administration, justice or the sciences, shall 
also be titles for admission, provided the person who shall 
have rendered them has made part of the national guard of 
the place of his domicile. 

8. After the first organization, no one can be admitted 
into the legion who has not performed his functions for 

^ twenty-five years with the requisite distinction. 

9. After the first organization, no one can advance to a 
higher grade except after having passed through the lower 

I grade. 

10. The details of the organization shall be determined 
by the public regulations of administration : they must be 
made by i Vendemiaire, Year XII, and that time passed, 
nothing in them can be changed except through laws. 



Law for Re-establishing Slavery in the 
French Colonies. 



May 20, 1802 (30 Floreal, Year X). Duvergier, Lois^ XIII, 

208. 

During the interval between the peace of Amiens and the re- 
newal of the war with England, Napoleon was engaged upon a 
vast design for the restoration of the once extensive colonial 
empire of France. His nlan included the establishment of French 
colonies in America, India and Australia. This law was intended 
to promote the first step towards the realization of the American 
branch of the scheme, the re-establishment of French authority 
in San Domingo. It had precisely the opposite effect. 

References. Rose, Napoleon, I, Ch. sv; Henry Adams, His- 
tory of the United States, I, Chs. xiii-xvi, passim, for Napoleon's 



Reorganization of Germany 339 

colonial plans : Camhridof Mndern Hif'tory, IX, 419-422 ; Jaurfes, 
Eistoire socialiste, VI, 129-130, 176-177. 

1. In the colonies restored to France in fulfillment of the 
treaty of Amiens of 6 Germinal, Year X, slavery shall be 
maintained in conformity with the laws and regulations in 
force prior to 1789. 

2. The same shall be done in the other French colonies 
beyond the Cape of Good Hope. 

3. The trade in the blacks and their importation into the 
said colonies shall take place in conformity with the laws and 
regulations existing prior to the said date of 1789. 

4. Notwithstanding all previous laws, the government of 
the colonies is subject for ten years to the regulations which 
shall be made by the government. 



69. Declaration of France upon the Reorgan- 
ization of Germany. 

August 18, 1802. De Clercq, Traites, I, 596-603. 

The reorganization of Germany through the recez adopted by 
the diet at Itatisbon on ^Marc-h 24. 1S03. was substantially along 
the lines dictated by Napoleon in this document. The length ot 
the passage containing the suggested changes has made necessary 
its omission ; the chief feature was the elimination of the eccle- 
siastical princes, nearly all of the city republics, and the knights 
of the Empire, through the transfer of their territories to other 
states or princes who had lost possessions in the countries which 
France had revolutionized. The portion here given shows some- 
thing of the circumstances which made possible the intervention 
of France and the manner in which the transaction was officially 
represented. 

Refehences. Fyffe, Modern Europe, I, 247-257 (Popular ed.. 
166-173 1 ; Cambridge Modern History, IX, 91-95 ; Fournier, Napo- 
leon, 257-262 ; Sloane, Napoleon, II, 169-171 ; Lavisse and Ram- 
baud. Histoire generale, IX, 67-69 ; Jaurfes, Eistoire socialiste, VI, 
174-175. 

The First Consul of the French Republic, being animated 
by the desire to contribute to the consolidation of the repose 
of the Germanic Empire, no method has appeared to him 
more suitable for obtaining this object of his solicitude than 
that of formulating in a plan of indemnity, as well adapted to 
respective convenience as circumstances have permitted, an 
arrangement calculated to produce that salutary result ; and 
an agreement of views having been established in this mat- 
ter between the First Consul of the French Republic and His 
Imperial Majesty of all the Russias, he [the First Consul] has 



340 Reorganization of Germany 

authorised the minister of foreign affairs to co-operate with 
the minister plenipotentiary of His Imperial Majesty of Rus- 
sia upon the most suitable means of applying the principles 
adopted regarding these indemnifications for the different 
demands of the interested parties. The result of this effort 
having obtained his approval, he has ordered the undersigned 
to bring it to the knowledge of the diet of the Empire by the 
present declaration, a measure to which the First Consul of 
the French Republic, as well as His Imperial Majesty, have 
been determined by the following considerations : 

Article VII of the Treaty of Luneville, having stipulated 
that the hereditary princes, whose possessions were included 
in the cession made to France of the countries situated upon 
the left of the Rhine, should be indemnified, it has been 
recognized that, in conformity with what had been formerly 
decided upon at the congress of Rastadt, this indemnification 
should be carried out by way of secularization; but, although 
perfectly agreed upon the basis of indemnification, the in- 
terested states have continued so opposed in views upon the 
distribution that it has appeared until now impossible to pro- 
ceed to the execution of the aforesaid article of the treaty of 
Luneville. 

And although the diet of the Empire has appointed a 
commission especially charged to occupy itself with this im- 
portant matter, it is well enough seen, by the obstacles which 
its meeting encounters, how much the opposition of inter- 
ests and the jealousy of pretensions place obstacles in the 
way of that which the regulation of the indemnities in Em- 
pire derives from the spontaneous action of the Germanic 
body. 

It is this which has caused the First Consul of the Re- 
public and His Majesty the Emperor of Russia to think that 
it was fitting for two perfectly disinterested powers to present 
their mediation and to offer for the deliberation of the Im- 
perial diet a general plan of indemnity, drawn up according 
to calculations of the most rigorous impartiality, and in 
which an endeavor has been made both to compensate the 
recognized losses and to preserve among the principal houses 
in Germany the equilibrium which existed before the war. . 

In consequence, after having examined with the most 
scrupulous attention, all the memoirs presented by the inter- 



Treaty with Spain 341 

ested parties, as well upon the value of the losses as upon 
the demands for indemnity, they have remained agreed to 
propose that the indemnification should be accorded in the 
following manner : 

Such is the total of the arrangements and considerations 
which the undersigned has been ordered to present to the im- 
perial diet, and upon which he believes that he ought to call 
for the most prompt and serious deliberation, expressing to 
it, in the name of his government, that the interest of Ger- 
many, the consolidation of the general peace and tranquility 
of Europe, demand that everything which concerns the regu- 
lation of the Germanic indemnities should be terminated 
within the space of two months. 

Signed, Ch. Mau. Talleyrand. 



70. Treaty with Spain. 

October 19. 1803 (26 Vendemiaire, Year XII). De Clercq, 
Traites, II, 82-84. 

Shortly after the renewal of the war with Great Britain, Na- 
poleon made a series of treaties with the states dependent upon 
France. This document is typical of the series. It illustrates one 
of Napoleon's methods of supporting his wars and shows the char- 
acter of the relationship existing between France and Spain. 

Refeeences. Fournier, Napoleon. 268-269 ; Rose, Napoleon. I, 
403-404 ; Sloane, Napoleon, II, 184 ; Lanfrey, Napoleon, II, 310-319. 

The First Consul of the French Republic, in the name of 
the French people, and His Majesty the King of Spain, de- 
siring to prevent the consequences of the misunderstanding to 
which the present difficulties between the two governments 
tend to give birth, and wishing at the same time to es- 
tablish for the time of the present war, in a manner more 
conformable to circumstances and the interests of the two 
states, the interpretation of the treaties which unite them. . . . 

3. Tlie First Consul consents that the obligations im- 
posed upon Spain by the treaties which unite the two states 
shall be converted into a pecuniary subsidy of six millions per 
month, which shall be furnished by Spain to its ally, dating 
from the renewal of hostilites until the end of the present 
war. 



342 Constitution o£ the Year XII 

6. In consideration of the above stipulated clauses and 
during all the time in which they shall be carried out, France 
will recognize the neutrality of Spain, and it promises not to 
make opposition to any of the measures which may be 
taken with respect to the belligerent nations in virtue of the 
general principles and laws of neutrality. 

7. His Most Catholic Majesty, having at heart to pre- 
vent all the difficulties which may arise with respect to the 
neutrality of his territory, in the event of a war between the 
French Republic and Portgual, binds himself to cause to be 
furnished by this latter power, and in virtue of a convention 
which shall be kept secret, the sum of one million per 
month . . . ; and in consideration of this subsidy, the 
neutrality of Portgual shall be consented to on the part of 
France. 



71. Constitution of ih^ Year XII. 

May 18, 1804 (28 Floreal, Year XII). Duvergier, Lois, XV, 
1-12. 

Through this measure the life consulate was transformed into 
the Empire. It should be studied in conjunction with the consti- 
tutions of the years VIII and X (Nos. 58 and 66 E), which it 
supplemented. Most of the institutions created by the two preced- 
ing constitutions were retained, but with important alterations 
whch should be noticed. A number of new institutions also call 
for notice. The question of establishing the imperial dignity, but 
not the whole document, was submitted to popular vote. 

References. Camhridge Modern History, IX, 107-111 ; Four- 
nier, Napoleon, 275-282 ; Rose, Napoleon, I, 429-432 ; Sloane, Na- 
poleon, II, 203-207 ; Lanfrey, Napoleon, II, 398-402, 406-415 ; 
I.avisse and Rambaud, Histoire generate, IX, 35-37, 224-229 ; 
Aulai'd. Revolution fraficaise. 771-778 ; Jaures, Histoire socialiste, 
VI, 195-204. 

Title I. 

1. The government of the French Republic is entrusted 
to an emperor, who takes the title of Emperor of the French. 

Justice is administered in the name of the Emperor by 
the officers whom he appoints. 

2. Napoleon Bonaparte, present First Consul of the Re- 
public, is Emperor of the French. 

Title II. Of the Inheritance. 

3. The imperial dignity is hereditary in the direct natural 



Constitution of the Year XII 343 

and legitimate lineage of Napoleon Bonaparte, from male to 
male, by order of primogeniture, and to the perpetual ex- 
clusion of women and their descendants. 

4. Napoleon Bonaparte can adopt the children or grand- 
children of his brothers, provided they have fully reached the 
age of eighteen years, and he himself has no male children 
at the moment of adoption. 

His adopted sons enter into the line of his direct descend- 
ants. 

If, subsequently to the adoption, male children come to 
him, his adopted sons can be summoned only after the na- 
tural and legitimate descendants. 

Adoption is forbidden to the successors of Napoleon Bona- 
parte and their descendants. 

5. In default of a natural and legitimate heir or an 
adopted heir of Napoleon Bonaparte, the imperial dignity is 
devolved and bestowed upon Joseph Bonaparte and his na- 
tural and legitimate descendants, by order of primogeniture, 
from male to male, to the perpetual exclusion of women and 
their descendants. 

6. In default of Joseph Bonaparte and his male descend- 
ants, the imperial dignity is devolved and bestowed upon Louis 
Bonaparte, and his natural and legitimate descendants by or- 
der of primogeniture fro^m male to male to the perpetual ex- 
clusion of women and their descendants. 

7. In default of a natural and legitimate heir and of an 
adopted heir of Napoleon Bonaparte; 

In default of natural and legitimate heirs of Joseph Bona- 
parte and his male descendants; 

Of Louis Bonaparte and his male descendants ; 

An organic senatus-consultum, proposed to the Senate by 
the titular high dignitaries of the Empire and submitted for 
the acceptance of the people, appoints the emperor and con- 
trols in his family the order of inheritance, from male to 
male, to the perpetual exclusion of women and their descend- 
ants. 

8. Until the moment in which the election of the new 
emperor is completed, the affairs of the state are directed 
by the ministers, who form themselves into a council of 
government and who make their decisions by a majority of 



344 Constitution of the Year XII 

votes. The secretary of state keeps the register of the dehb- 
erations. 

Title III. Of the Imperial Family. 

9. The members of the imperial family within the order 
of inheritance bear the title of French Princes. 

The eldest son of the Emperor bears that of Prince Im- 
perial. 

10. A senatus-consultum regulates the manner of the 
'education of the French princes. 

11. They are members of the Senate and of the Council 
of State v/hen they have reached their eighteenth year. 

12. They cannot marry without the authorisation of the 
Emperor. 

The marriage of a French prince made without the author- 
isation of the Emperor entails deprivation of all right of in- 
heritance, both for him who contracts it and for his descend- 
ants. 

Nevertheless, if there is no child from this marriage, and 
it becomes dissolved, the prince who had contracted it re- 
covers his rights of inheritance. 

13. The documents which attest the birth, marriages, 
and decease of the members of the imperial family, are transi- 
mitted upon an order of the Emperor to the Senate, which 
orders their transcription upon its registers and their de- 
posit in its archives.' 

14. Napoleon Bonaparte establishes by statutes, to which 
his successors are required to conform : 

1st. The duties of the persons of both sexes, members of 
the imperial family, towards the Emperor ; 

2d. An organization of the imperial palace in conformity 
with the dignity of the throne and the grandeur of the nation. 

15. The civil list remains as it has been regulated by 
articles i and 4 of the decree of May 26 — June i, 1791. 

The French princes, Joseph and Louis Bonaparte, and, 
for the future, the younger natural and legitimate sons of the 
Emperor, shall be treated in conformity with articles i, 10, 11, 
13 and 13 of the decree of December 21, 1790 — 'April 6, 1791. 

The Emperor can fix the jointure of the Empress and as- 
sign it out of the civil list ; his successors can change none 
of the dispositions which he shall have made in this respect. 



Constitution of the Year XII 345 

16. The Emperor visits the departments : in consequence, 
imperial palaces are established at the four principal points of 
the Empire. 

These palaces are designated and their appointments de- 
termined by a law. 

Title IV, Of the Regency. 

17. The Emperor is a minor until he has fully completed 
eighteen j^ears; during his minority there is a regent of the 
Empire. 

18. The regent must be at least fully twenty-five years of 
age. 

Women are excluded from the regency. 

19. The Emperor designates the regent from among the 
French princes who are of the age required by the preceding 
article, and in default of them, from among the titular grand 
dignitaries of the Empire. 

20. In default of designation on the part of the Emperor, 
the regency is bestowed upon the prince the nearest in degree 
in the order of inheritance, who has fully completed twenty- 
five years. 

21. If, the Emperor not having designated the regent, 
none of the French princes have fully completed twenty-five 
years, the Senate elects the regent from the titular grand 
dignitaries of the Empire. 

22. If, by reason of the minority in age of the prince sum- 
moned to the regency in the order of heredity, it has been 
bestowed upon a more remote kinsman, or upon one of the 
titular grand dignitaries of the Empire, the regent who has 
entered upon his functions continues until the majority of the 
Emperor. 

23. No organic senatus-consultum can be issued during 
the regency, nor before the end of the third year ,which fol- 
lows the majority. 

24. The regent exercises, until the majority of the Em- 
peror, all the attributes of the imperial dignity. 

Nevertheless, . he cannot make appointments to the high 
dignities of the Empire, nor to the places of the grand officers, 
which may be vacant at the time of the regency, or which 
may become vacant during the minority, nor use the preroga- 



346 Constitution of the Year XII 

tive reserved to the Emperor to raise citizens to the rank of 
senator. 

He cannot dismiss the grand judge nor the secretary of 
state. 

25. He is not personally responsible for the acts of his 
administration. 

26. All the acts of the regency are in the name of the 
minor Emperor. 

2.T. The regent does not propose any project of law or of 
senatus-consultum, nor adopt any rule of public administration 
until after he has taken the opinion of the council of regency, 
composed of the titular high dignitaries of the Empire. 

He cannot declare war, nor sign treaties of peace, alliance, 
or commerce until after deliberation over it in the council 
of regency, whose members, for this case alone, have deliber- 
ative voice. The decision is by a majority of the votes; and if 
there is an equal division, it passes, according to the opinion 
of the regent. 

The minister of foreign affairs takes a seat in the council 
of regency, when this council deliberates over matters relative 
to his department. 

The grand judge minister of justice can be summoned 
there by order of the regent. 

The secretary of state keeps the register of its deliber- 
ations. 

28. The regency does not confer any right over the p;erson 
of the minor Emperor. 

29. The stipend of the regent is fixed at one-fourth of the 
sum of the civil list. 

30. The guardianship of the minor Emperor is confided 
to his mother, and in her default, to the prince designated for 
that purpose by the predecessor of the minor Emperor. 

Tn default of the mother of the minor Emperor and of a 
prince designated by the Emperor, the Senate confides the 
guardianship of the minor Emperor to one of the titular 
grand dignitaries of the Empire. 

Neither the regent and his descendants .nor women can 
be chosen for the guardianship of the minor Emperor. 

31. In case Napoleon Bonaparte shall make use of the 
power conferred upon him by article 4, title H, the docu- 
ment of adoption shall be drawn up in the presence of the 



Constitution of the Year XII 347 

titular grand dignitaries of the Empire, received by the secre- 
tary of state and transmitted immediately to the Senate in 
order to be transcribed upon its registers and deposited in 
its archives. 

When the Emperor designates either a regent for the 
minority or a prince for the guardianship of a minor Em- 
peror, the same formalities are observed. 

The documents of designation, either of a regent for the 
minority or a prince for the guardianship of a minor Em- 
peror, are revocable at will by the Emperor. 

Every document of adoption, of designation or of rev- 
ocation of designation, which shall not have been transcribed 
upon the registers of the Senate before the decease of the 
Emperor shall be null and void. 

Title V. Of the Grand Dignitaries of the Empire. 

32. The grand dignitaries of the Empire are these : 

Grand elector, 

Archchancellor of the Empire, 

Archchancellor of state, 

Archtrea surer, 

Constable, 

Grand admiral. 

3S- The titular grand dignitaries of the Empire are ap- 
pointed by the Emperor. 

They enjoy the same honors as the French princes and 
take rank immediately after them. 

The date of their reception determines the rank which they 
respectively occupy. 

34. The high dignitaries of the Empire are irremovable. 

35. The titular grand dignitaries of the Empire are sen- 
ators and councillors of state. 

36. They form the grand council of the Emperor ; 
They are members of the privy council ; 

They compose the grand council of the Legion of Honor. 

The present members of the grand council of the Legion 
of Honor preserve their titles, functions and prerogatives for 
the duration of their lives. 

37. The Senate and the Council of State are presided 
over by the Emperor. 



348 Constitution of the Year XII 

When the Emperor does not preside over the Senate or 
the Council of State, he designates the one of the titular high 
dignitaries of the Empire who must preside. 

38. All the decrees of the Senate and of the Legislative 
Body are rendered in the name of the Emperor and are 
promulgated or published under the imperial seal. 

39. The grand elector performs the functions of chancel- 
lor; 

I St, For the convocation of the Legislative Body, the 
electoral colleges and the cantonal assemblies ; 2d, for the 
promulgation of the senatus-consulta providing for the dis- 
solution either of the Legislative Body or of the electoral 
colleges. 

The grand elector presides in the absence of the Em- 
peror when the Senate proceeds to the appointment of sen- 
ators, legislators, and tribunes. 

He can reside in the palace of the Senate. 

He brings to the knowledge of the Emperor the claims 
formulated by the electoral colleges or the cantonal assem- 
blies, for the preservation of their prerogatives. 

When a member of an electoral college is denounced, in 
conformity with article 21 of the organic senatus-consultum 
of 16 Thermidor, Year X, as being involved in some act 
prejudicial to honor or the fatherland, the grand elector in- 
vites the college to express its opinion. He brings the opinion 
of the college to the knowledge of the Emperor. 

The grand elector presents to the members of the Senate, 
the Council of State, the Legislative Body, and the Tribunate, 
the oath which they take at the hands of the Emperor. 

He receives the oath of the presidents of the department 
electoral colleges and the cantonal assemblies. 

He presents the solemn deputations of the Senate, Coun- 
cil of State, Legislative Body, Tribunate, and the electoral 
colleges when they are admitted to the audience of the Em- 
peror. 

40. The archchancellcr of the Empire performs the func- 
tions of chancellor for the promulgation of the organic 
senatus-consulta and the laws. 

He performs, likewise, those of chancellor of the imperial 
palace. 

He is present at the annual report in which the high judge 



Constitution of the Year XII 349 

minister of justice gives an account to the Emperor of the 
abuses which may have been introduced into the administra- 
tion of either civil or criminal justice. 

He presides over the high imperial court. 

He presides over the united sections of the Council of 
State, and of the Tribunate, in conformity with article 95, 
title XL 

He is present at the celebration of the marriages and at 
the birth of the princes, at the coronation and at the obsequies 
of the Emperor. He signs the record which the secretary 
of state draws up. 

He presents to the titular grand dignitaries of the Em- 
pire, the ministers and the secretary of state, the grand civil 
officers of the crown, and the first president of the court of 
cassation, the oath which they take at the hands of the Em- 
peror. 

He receives the oath of the members and of the bar of 
the court of cassation, and of the presidents and procureurs- 
general of the courts of appeal and the criminal courts. 

He presents the solemn deputations and the members of 
the courts of justice admitted to the audience of the Emperor. 

He signs and seals the commissions and warrants of the 
members of the courts of justice and of the ministerial of- 
ficers; he seals the commissions and warrants of civil func- 
tions, administrative a.nd other certificates which shall be 
designated in the regulation providing for the organization 
of the seal. 

41. The archchancellor of state performs the functions of 
chancellor for the promulgation of treaties of peace and al- 
liance and for the declarations of war. 

He presents to the Emperor and signs the letters of 
credence and the ceremonial correspondence with the dif- 
ferent courts of Europe, drawn up according to the forms 
of the imperial formulary of which he is the keeper. 

He is present at the annual report in which the minister 
of foreign affairs gives an account to the Emperor of the 
political situation of the state. 

He presents to the ambassadors and ministers of the Em- 
peror at foreign courts the oath which they take at the hands 
of His Imperial Majesty. 

He receives the oath of the resident charges d'affaires. 



350 Constitution of the Year XII 

secretaries of embassy and legation, commissioners-general 
and commissioners of "commercial relations. 

He presents the extraordinary ambassadors and ambas- 
sadors, and French and foreign ministers. 

42. The archtreasurer is present at the annual report in 
which the ministers of finance and of the public treasury ren- 
der to the Emperor the accounts of the receipts and ex- 
penditures of the state a.nd express their views upon the needs 
of the finances of the Empire. 

The accounts of the annual receipts and expenditures are 
endorsed with his signature before being presented to the 
Emperor. 

He receives, every three m.onths, the statement of the re- 
port of the national accounting, and every year the general 
result and the views for reform and improvement in the dif- 
ferent parts of the accounting ; he brings them to the knowl- 
edge of the Emperor. 

He audits every year the ledger of the public debt. 

He signs the warrants for the civil pensions. 

He presides over the united sections of the Council of 
State and of the Tribunate, in conformity with article 95, 
title XI. 

He receives the oath of the members of the national ac- 
counting, of the finance administrations, and of the principal 
agents of the public treasury. 

He presents the deputations of the national accountants 
and of the finance administrations admitted to the audience 
of the Emperor. 

43. The constable is present at the annual report in 
which the minister of war and the director of the war ad- 
ministration render account to the Emperor of the provisions 
taken to complete the system of defence of the frontiers, the 
maintenance, repair, and supplying of the posts. 

He lays the first stone of the fortresses whose construc- 
tion is ordered. 

He is governor of the military schools. 

When the Emperor does not in person transmit the flags 
to the corps of the army, they are sent to them in his name 
by the constable. 

In the absence of the Emperor, the constable presides 
over the grand review of the imperial guard. 



Constitution of the Year XII 351 

When a general d'armee is accused of an offence specified 
in the miHtary penal code, the constable can preside over the 
council of war, which must give judgment. 

He presents to the marshals of the Empire, the colonels- 
general, the inspectors-general, the general officers and the 
colonels of all arms, the oaths which they take at the hands 
of the Emperor. 

He receives the oaths of the majors, and leaders of bat- 
talions and squadrons of all arms. 

He installs the marshals of the Empire. 

He presents the genera! officers and the colonels, majors, 
and leaders of battalions and squadrons, when they are ad- 
mitted to the audience of the Emperor. 

He signs the warrants of the army and those of the mili- 
tary pensioners of the State. 

44. The grand admiral is present at the annual report in 
which the minister of the navy renders account to the Em- 
peror of the condition of the naval forces, arsenals, and sup- 
plies. 

He receives annually and presents to the Emperor the ac- 
counts of the marine invalids' fund. 

When an admiral, vice-admiral, or rear-admiral command- 
ing in chief a naval force is accused of an offence specified 
in the marine penal code, the grand admiral can preside over 
the court martial which shall give judgment. 

He presents to the admirals, vice-admirals, rear-admirals, 
and captains of vessels the oath which they take at the hands 
of the Emperor. 

He receives the oaths of the members of the council of 
prizes and the captains of frigates. 

He presents the admirals, vice-admirals, rear-admirals, cap- 
tains of vessels and frigates, and the members of the coun- 
cil of prizes, when they are admitted to the audience of the 
Emperor. 

He signs the warrants of the officers of the naval forces 
and those of the marine pensioners of the state. 

45. Each of the titular grand dignitaries of the Empire 
presides over a department electoral college. 

The electoral college sitting at Brussels is presided over by 
the grand elector. 



352 Constitution of the Year XII 

The electoral college sitting at Bordeaux is presided over 
by the archchancellor of the Empire. 

The electoral college sitting at Nantes is presided over by 
the archchancellor of state. 

The electoral college sitting at Lyon is presided over by 
the archtreasurer of the Empire. 

The electoral college sitting at Turin is presided over by 
the constable. 

The electoral college sitting at Marseilles is presided over 
by the grand admiral. 

46. Each of the titular grand dignitaries of the Empire 
receives annually by way of fi.Ked stipend two-thirds of the 
sum appropriated for the princes, in conformity with the de- 
cree of December 21, 1790. 

47. A statute of the Emperor regulates the functions of 
the titular grand dignitaries of the Empire near the Emperor 
and determines their costumes in the grand ceremonies. The 
successors of the Emperor can deviate from this statute only 
by a senatus-consultum. 

Title VI. Of the Grand Officers of the Empire 

48. The grand officers of the Empire are : 

First, the marshals of the Empire, chosen from among the 
most distinguished generals. 

Their number cannot exceed that of sixteen. 

The marshals of the Empire who are senators are not part 
of this number. 

Secondly, eight general inspectors and colonels-general of 
artillery and engineers, of cavalry troops and of the navy. 

Thirdly, the grand civil officers of the crown, such as are 
instituted by the statutes of the Emperor. 

49. The positions of the grand officers are irremovable. 

50. Each of the grand officers of the Empire presides 
over an electoral college which is especially set aside for him 
at the moment of his appointment. 

51. If, by an order of the Emperor or by any other cause 
whatsoever, a titular grand dignitary of the Empire or a 
grand officer happens to discontinue his functions, he pre- 
serves his title, his rank, his privileges, and half of his sti- 
pend: he loses these only by a judgment of the high imperial 
court. 



Constitution of the Year XII 353 

Title VII. Of the Oaths. 

52. Within the two years which follow his accession or his 
majority, the Emperor, accompanied by 

The titular grand dignitaries of the Empire, 

The ministers, 

The grand officers of the Empire, 

Taices oath to the French people upon the gospel, in the 
presence of: 

The Senate, 

The Council of State, 

The Legislative Body, 

The Tribunate, 

The court of cassation. 

The archbishops. 

The bishops. 

The grand officers of the Legion of Honor, 

The national accountants. 

The presidents of the courts of appeal, 

The presidents of the electoral colleges, 

The presidents of the cantonal assemblies. 

The presidents of the consistories. 

And the mayors of the thirty-six principal cities of the 
Empire. 

The secretary of state prepares the record of the taking 
of the oath. 

53. The oath of the Emperor is thus expressed : 

"I swear to maintain the integrity of the territory of the 
Republic, to respect and cause to be respected the laws of 
the concordat and the liberty of worship, to respect and cause 
to be respected equality of rights, political and civil liberty, 
the irrevocability of the sales of the national lands; not to 
raise any impost, nor to establish any tax except in virtue of 
the law ; to maintain the institution of the Legion of Honor ; 
to govern in the sole view of the interest, the welfare and 
the glory of the French people." 

54. Before beginning the exercise of his functions, the 
regent, accompanied by : 

The titular grand dignitaries of the Empire, 

The ministers, 

The grand officers of the Empire, 

Takes oath upon the gospel, and in the presence of 



354 Constitution of the Year XII 

The Senate, 
The Council of State, 

The president and questors of the Legislative Body, 
The president and the questors of the Tribunate, 
And the grand officers of the Legion of Honor. 
The secretary of state prepares the record of the taking 
of the oath. 

55. The oath of the regent is expressed in these terms : 
"I swear to administer the affairs of the state, in conform- 
ity with the constitutions of the Empire, the senatus-consulta 
and the laws; to maintain in all their integrity the territory 
of the Republic, the rights of the nation and those of the 
imperial dignity, and to deliver up to the Emperor, at the 
moment of his majority, the authority, the exercise of which 
is confided to me." 

56. The titular grand dignitaries of the Empire, the min- 
isters and the secretary of state, the grand officers and the 
members of the Senate, the Council of State, the Legislative 
Body, the Tribunate, the electoral colleges and the cantonal 
assemblies, take oath in these terms : 

'T swear obedience to the constitutions of the Empire and 
fidelity to the Emperor." 

The public, civil, and judicial functionaries and the officers 
and soldiers of the army and navy take the same oath. 

Title VIII. Of the Senate. 

57. The Senate is composed : 

1st, Of the French princes who have reached their eight- 
eenth year ; 

2d, Of the titular grand dignitaries of the Empire; 

3d, Of eighty members appointed upon the presentation of 
the candidates chosen by the Emperor from the lists formed 
by the department electoral colleges ; 

4th, Of citizens whom the Emperor deems suitable to be 
raised to the dignity of senator. 

In case the number of the senators shall exceed that which 
has been fixed by article 63 of the organic senatus-consultum 
of 16 Thermidor, Year X, provision shall be made for this 
by a law for the execution of article 17 of the senatus-con- 
sultum of 14 Nivose, Year XL 



Constitution of the Year XII 355 

58. The president of the Senate is appointed by the Em- 
peror and chosen from among the senators. 

His functions continue one year. 

59. He convokes the Senate upon an order issued of his 
own accord by the Emperor and upon the request either of 
the commissioners, which will be spoken of hereafter in art- 
icles 60 and 64, or of a senator, in conformity with the pro- 
visions of article 70, or of an officer of the Senate for the in- 
ternal affairs of the body. 

He gives an account tO' the Emperor of the convocations 
made upon the request of the commissions or of a senator, 
of their object, and of the results of the deliberation of the 
Senate. 

60. A commission of seven members, appointed by the 
Senate and chosen within its own body, takes cognizance, 
upon the communication made to it by the ministers, of the 
arrests effected in conformity with article 46 of the constitu- 
tion, when the persons arrested have not been brought before 
the tribunals within ten days after their arrest. 

This commission is called the senatorial commission of per- 
sonal liberty. 

61. All persons arrested and not put on trial within ten 
days after their arrest, can apply directly, by themselves, their 
relatives, or their representatives, and by way of petition, to 
Ihe senatorial commission of personal liberty. 

62. When the commission considers that detention pro- 
longed beyond ten days after arrest is not warranted by the 
interest of the state, it invites the minister who has ordered 
the arrest to cause the detained person to be put at liberty or 
to send him before the ordinary tribunals. 

63. If, after three consecutive invitations, renewed within 
the space of one month, the detained person is not pau. at 
liberty nor sent before the ordinary tribunals, the commission 
requests a meeting of the Senate, which is convoked by the 
president a.nd which renders, if there is need, the following 
declaration : 

"There are strong presumptions that N is arbitrarily 

detained." 

Thereafter proceedings are in conformity with the provis- 
ions of article 112, title XHI, Of the high imperial court. 

64. A commission of seven members, appointed by the 



3S6 Constitution of the Year XII 

Senate and chosen from within its ow.n body, is charged to 
watch over the liberty of the press. 

Periodical works printed and distributed by subscription 
arc not included within its powers. 

This commission is called the senatorial commission of ihe 
liberty of the press. 

65. Authors, printers, or publishers who believe that there 
is ground for complaint over restrictions placed upon the 
printing or circulation of a work can have recourse directly 
and by way of petition to the senatorial commission of the 
liberty of the press. 

66. When the commission thinks that the restrictions are 
not warranted by the interest of the state, it invites the 
minister who has given the order to revoke it. 

67. If, after three consecutive invitations renewed within 
the space of one month, the restrictions remain, the commis- 
sion asks for a meeting of the Senate, which is convoked by 
the president and which renders, if there is need, the follow- 
ing declaration : 

"There are strong presumptions that the liberty of the 
press has been violated." 

After that, proceedings are in conformity with the pro- 
vision of article 112, title XIII, Of the high imperial court. 

68. One member of each of these senatorial comimissions 
discontinues his functions every four months. 

69. The projects of law decreed by the Legislative Body 
are transmitted to the Senate on the day of their adoption, 
and deposited in its archives. 

70. Every decree rendered by the Legislative Body can be 
denounced to the Senate by a Senator : 

1st, As tending to the re-establishment of the feudal re- 
gime; 2d, as contrary to the irrevocability of the sales of the 
national lands ; 3d, as not having been deliberated upon in 
the forms prescribed by the constitutions of the Empire, the 
regulations and the laws; 4th, as constituting an attack upon 
the prerogatives of the imperial dignity and those of the Sen- 
ate ; without prejudice to the execution of articles 21 and 37 
of the acte of the constitutions of the Empire of the date of 
22 Frimaire, Year VIII. 

71. The Senate, within the six days which follow the 



Constitution of the Year XII 357 

adoption of the project of law, deliberating upon the report 
of a special commission, and after having heard three read- 
ings of the decree in three sittings held on difife'rent days, 
can express the opinion that there is no need to promulgate 
the law. 

The president conveys to the Emperor the resolution of 
the Senate with a statement of the motives for it. 

y2. The Emperor, after having heard the Council of State, 
either declares by a decree his adherence to the resolution 
of the Senate, or causes the promulgation of the law. 

yS- Any law whose promulgation under that circumstance 
has not taken place before the expiration of the interval of 
ten days, can no longer be promulgated, unless it has been 
newly deliberated upon and adopted by the Legislative Body. 

74. The entire operations of an electoral college and the 
partial operations which are relative to the presentation of 
the candidates to the Senate, Legislative Body, and Tribu- 
nate cannot be annulled on account of unconstitutionality, ex- 
cept by a senatus-consultum. 

Title IX. Of the Council of State. 

75. When the Council of State deliberates upon projects 
of law or regulations of public administration, two-thirds 
of the members of the council in ordinary service must be 
present. 

The number of the councillors of state present cannot be 
less than twenty-five. 

76. The Council of State is divided into six sections, to 
wit: 

Section of legislation, 
Section of the interior, 
Section of the finances, 
Section of war. 
Section of the navy. 
And section of commerce. 

77. When a member of the Council of State has been car- 
ried for five years upon the list of the members of the coun- 
cil in ordinary service he receives a commission of council- 
lor of state for life. 

When he ceases to be carried upon the list of the Council 



3S8 Constitution of the Year XII 

of State in ordinary or extraordinary service, he has a right 
to but one-third of the stipend of councillor of state. 

He loses his title and his rights only by a judgment of the 
high imperial court, involving afiflictive or infamous penalty. 

Title X. Of the Legislative Body. 

78. The retiring members of the Legislative Body can be 
re-elected without interval. 

79. The projects of law presented to the Legislative Body 
are sent back to the three sections of the Tribunate. 

80. The sittings of the Legislative Body are divided into 
ordinary sittings and committees of the whole. 

81. The ordinary sittings are composed of the members 
of the Legislative Body, the orators of the Council of State, 
and the orators of the three sections of the Tribunate. 

The committees of the whole are composed only of the 
members of the Legislative Body. 

The president of the Legislative Body presides over the 
ordinary sittings and over the committees of the whole. 

82. In ordinary sitting, the Legislative Body hears the ora- 
tors of the Council of State and those of the three sections 
of the Tribunate, and votes upon the project of law. 

In committee of the whole, the members of the Legislative 
Body discuss among themselves the advantages and disad- 
vantages of the project of law. 

83. The Legislative Body forms itself into committee of 
the whole : 

1st. Upon the invitation of the president, for the internal 
affairs of the body ; 

2d. Upon a request made to the president and signed by 
fifty members present ; 

In these two cases the committee of the whole is secret, 
and the discussions shall not be printed nor divulged. 

3d. Upon the request of the orators of the Council of 
State, especially authorised for that purpose. 

In this case the committee of the whole is necessarily pub- 
lic. 

No decision can be reached in the committees of the whole. 

84. When the discussion in committee of the whole is 
closed, the decision is adjourned to the next day in ordinary 
sitting. 



Constitution of the Year XII 359 

85. The Legislative Body, on the day when it must vote 
upon the project of law, hears, in the same sitting, the resume 
which the orators of the Council of State offer. 

86. The decision over a project of law cannot in any case 
be deferred more than three days beyond that which has been 
fixed for the closing of the discussion. 

87. The sections of the Tribunate constitute the only com- 
missions of the Legislative Body, which can form others only 
in the case provided for in article 113, title XIII, Of the high 
imperial court. 

Title XI, Of the Tribunate. 

88. The functions of the members of the Tribunate con- 
tinue ten years. 

89. • The Tribunate is renewed by half every five years. 
The first renewal shall take place for the session of the 

Year XVII, in conformity with the organic senatus-consultum 
of 16 Thermidor. Year X. 

90. The president of the Tribunate is appointed by the 
Emperor out of a presentation of three candidates made by 
the Tribunate by secret ballot and a majority. 

91. The functions of the president of the Tribunate con- 
tinue two years. 

92. The Tribunate has two questors. 

They are appointed by the Emperor out of a triple list of 
candidates chosen by the Tribunate by secret ballot and a 
majority. 

Their functions are the same as those assigned to the ques- 
tors of the Legislative Body by articles 19, 20, 21, 22, 2^, 
24 and 25 of the organic senatus-consultum of 24 Frimaire, 
Year XII. 

One of the questors is renewed each year. 

93. The Tribunate is divided into three sections, to wit: 
Section of legislation. 

Section of the interior. 
Section of the finances. 

94. Each section forms a list of three of its members from 
whom the president of the Tribunate designates the presi- 
dent of the section. 

The functions of the president of a section continue one 
year. 



360 Constitution of the Year XII 

95. When the respective sections of the Council of State 
and the Tribunate ask tO' unite, the conferences take place 
under the presidency of the archchancellor of the Empire or 
of the archtreasurer, according to the nature of the matters 
to be examined. 

96. Each section discusses separately and in sectional 
meeting, the projects of law which are transmitted to it by 
the Legislative Body. 

Two orators of each of the three sections carry to the Leg- 
islative body the opinion of their section, and explain the 
grounds for it. 

97. In no case can the projects of law be discussed by 
the Tribunate in general assembly. 

It unites in general assembly, under the presidency of its 
president, for the exercise of its other attributes. 

Title XII. Of the Electoral Colleges. 

98. Whenever a department electoral college meets for the 
formation of the list of candidates for the Legislative Body, 
the lists of candidates for the Senate are renewed. 

Each renewal renders the former presentations of no efifect. 

99. The grand officers, the commandants, and the officers 
of the Legion of Honor are members of the electoral collej^e 
of the department in which they have their domicile, or of 
one of the departments for the cohort to which they belong. 

The legionaries are members of the electoral college of 
their district. 

The members of the Legion of Honor are admitted to the 
electoral college, of which they shall form part, upon the 
presentation of a certificate which is delivered to them for 
that purpose by the grand elector. 

100. The prefects and the military commandants of the 
departments cannot be elected candidates for the Senate by 
the electoral colleges of the departments in which they exer- 
cise their functions. 

Title XIII. Of the High Imperial Court. 

loi. A high imperial court takes cognizance: 
1st. Of the personal offences committed by the members 
of the imperial family, the titular grand dignitaries of ihe 



Constitution of the Year XII 361 

Empire, the ministers and the secretary of state, the grana 
officers, the senators, and the councillors of state ; 

2d. Of crimes, attempts, and conspiracies against the in- 
ternal and external security of the state, the person of the 
Emperor and that of the heir presumptive o£ the Empire ; 

3d. Of offences of responsibility of office committed by 
the ministers and councillors of state especially charged with 
-ar-^art-ei- the public administration ; 

4th. Of betrayals of trust and abuse of power, committed 
either by the captains-general of the colonies, the colonial 
prefects and commandants of French establishments outside 
of the continent, or by the administrators-general employed 
extraordinarily, or by the generals of the army or navy ; with- 
out prejudice, in respect to these, of prosecutions by the mili- 
tary jurisdiction in the cases determined by the laws; 

5th. Of the fact of disobedience of the generals of the 
army or navy who disregard their instructions ; 

6th. Of the peculations and squandering of which the pre- 
fects of the interior make themselves guilty in the exercise 
of their functions ; 

7th. Of the forfeitures and complaints of prejudice which 
may be incurred by a court of appeal or by a court of juS' 
tice or by inembers of the court of cassation. 

8th. Of denunciations on account of arbitraiy detentions 
and of violations of the liberty of the press. 

102. The seat of the high imperial court is in the Senate. 

103. It is presided over by the archchancellor of the Em- 
pire. 

If he is ill, absent, or lawfully prevented, it is presided over 
by another of the titular grand dignitaries of the Empire. 

104. The high imperial court is composed of the princes, 
the titular grand dignitaries and grand officers of the Em- 
pire, the high judge minister of justice, sixty senators, the 
six presidents of the sections of the Council of State, four- 
teen councillors of state, and twenty members of the court of 
cassation. 

The senators, the councillors of state and members of 
the court of cassation are appointed by order of seniority. 

105. There is before the high imperial court a procureur- 
general, appointed for Hfe by the Emperor. 

He performs the duties of the public ministry, being as- 



362 Constitution of the Year XII 

sisted by three tribunes, appointed each year by the Legisla- 
tive Body out of a list of nine candidates presented by the 
Tribunate, and of three magistrates whom the Emperor ap- 
points, also each year, from among the officers of the courts 
of appeal and of criminal justice. 

106. There is before the high imperial court a recorder- 
in-chief appointed for life by the Emperor. 

107. The president of the high imperial court can never 
be challenged ; he can abstain for legitimate reasons. 

108. The high imperial court can act only upon proceed- 
ings instituted by the public ministry in the offences com- 
mitted by those whose rank makes them subject to the juris- 
diction of the imperial court; if there is a complaint, the 
public ministry becomes necessarily joint and prosecuting 
party, and proceeds as is required hereinafter. 

The public ministry is likewise the joint and prosecuting 
party in cases of forfeiture or of complaint of prejudice. 

109. The security magistrates and the jury directors are 
required to draw up and transmit, within the period of eight 
days, to the procureur-general before the high imperial court 
all the documents of the proceedings, when, in the offences 
whose reparation they seek, it happens either from the qual- 
ity of the persons, or the title of the accusation, or from 
circumstances, that the matter belongs to the jurisdiction of 
the high imperial court. 

Nevertheless, the security magistrates continue to collect 
the proofs and indications of the offence. 

no. The ministers or the councillors of state charged 
with any part whatsoever of the public administration can 
be denounced by the Legislative Body, if they have given or- 
ders contrary to the constitutions and the laws of the Em- 
pire. 

III. The Legislative Body can likewise denounce: 

The captains-general of the colonies, the colonial prefects, 
the commandants of French establishments outside of the con- 
tinent, the administrators-general, when they have betrayed 
their trusts or abused their authority ; 

The generals of the army or navy who have disobeyed 
their instructions ; 

The prefects of the interior who have made themselves 
guilty of squandering or of peculation. 



Constitution of the Year XII 363 

112. The Legislative Body denounces likewise the ministers 
or agents of authority when there has been, on the part of 
the Senate, declaration of strong presumptions of arbitrary 
detention or of violation of the liberty of the press. 

113. The denunciation of the Legislative Body cannot be 
decreed except upon the demand of the Tribunate, or upon 

• the application of fifty members of the Legislative Body, who 
require a secret committee for the purpose of causing the 
selection, by way of ballot, of ten from among themselves to 
draw up the instrument of denunciation. 

114. In either case, the request or the demand shall be 
made in writing, and signed by the president and the secre- 
taries of the Tribunate, or by the ten members of the Leg- 
islative Body. 

If it is directed against a minister or a councillor of state 
charged with a part of the public administration, it is com- 
municated to him within the period of a month. 

115. The denounced minister or councillor of state does 
net appear there to replj^ 

The Emperor appoints three councillors of state to repair 
to the Legislative Body on the appointed day, and to give in- 
formation upon the facts of the denunciation. 

116. The Legislative Body discusses in secret committee 
the facts included in the request or the demand, and it de- 
cides by means of the ballot. 

117. The document of denunciation shall be circumstan- 
tially stated and signed by the president and secretary of 
the Legislative Body. 

It is addressed by a message to the archchancellor of the 
Empire, who transmits it to the procureur-general before the 
high imperial court. 

118. Betrayals of trust or abuses of power of the captains- 
general of the colonies, the colonial prefects, the commandants 
of the establishments outside of the continent, and the ad- 
ministrators-general ; the facts of disobedience on the part 
of the generals of the army or the navy to the instructions 
which have been given them ; and the squanderings and ex- 
travagances of the prefects are denounced by the ministers, 
each within his department, to the officers charged with the 
public ministry. 

If the denurciation is made oy the high judge minister of 



364 Constitution of the Year XII 

justice, he cannot assist nor take part in the judgments which 
follow upon his denunciation. 

119. In the cases prescribed by articles no, in, 112, and 
118, the prccureur-general notifies the archchancellor of the 
Empire, within three days, that there is need for the high 
imperial court to meet. 

The archchancellor, after having taken the orders of the' 
Emperor, fixes within eight days the opening of the sittings 

120. At the first sitting of the high imperial court it shall 
pass upon its jurisdiction. 

121. When there is a denunciation or a complaint, the 
procureur-general in concert with the tribunes and the three 
magistrate-officers of the bar, considers whether there is need 
for prosecutions. 

The decision belongs to him ; one of the magistrates of 
the bar can be charged by the procureur-general with the 
direction of the prosecutions. 

If the public ministry thinks that the complaint or the de- 
nunciation ought not to be admitted, it states the grounds 
for the conclusions, upon which the high imperial court pro- 
nounces, after having beard the magistrate charged with the 
report. 

122. When the conclusions are adopted, the high imperial 
court brings the affair to an end by a definitive judgment. 

When they are rejected, the public ministry is required 
to continue the prosecutions. 

123. In the second of the cases provided for by the pre- 
ceding article, and also when the public ministry considers 
that the complaint or denunciation ought to be admitted,, it 
is required to prepare the document of accusation within 
eight days, and to communicate it to the commissioner and 
the alternate whom the archchancellor of the Empire ap- 
points from among the judges of the court of cassation who 
are members of the high imperial court. The functions of 
this commissioner, and, in his default, of the alternate, con- 
sist of making the examination and the report. 

124. The reporter or his alternate submits the document 
of accusation to twelve commissioners of the high imperial 
court, chosen by the archchancellor of the Empire, six from 
among the senators and six from among the other members 



Constitution of the Year XII 365 

of the high imperial court. The members chosen do hot 
participate in the judgment of the high imperial court. 

125. If the twelve commissioners conclude that there is 
need for accusation, the commissioner-reporter prepares an 
ordinance in conformity therewith, issues the warrants of 
arrest, and proceeds to the examination. 

126. If the commissioners, on the contrary, think that 
there is no need for accusation, the matter is referred by the 
reporter to the high imperial court, which pronounces defin- 
itively. 

127. The high imperial court cannot give judgment with 
less than sixty members. Ten of the whole number of mem- 
bers can be challenged, without assignment of cause, by the 
accused and ten by the public party. The decision is rendered 
by majority of the votes. 

128. The proceedings and the judgment take place in 
public. 

129. The accused have counsel; if they do not present 
any, the archchancellor of the Empire officially gives them 
some one. 

130. The high imperial court can pronounce only the 
penalties provided by the penal code. 

It pronounces, if there is need, condemnation to damages 
and civil interests. 

131. When it acquits, it can put those who are acquitted 
under the surveillance or at the disposal of the high police 
of the state, for the time which it determines. 

132. The judgments rendered by the high imperial court 
are not subject to any appeal; 

Those which pronounce condemnation to an afflictive or 
infamous penalty can be executed only when they have been 
signed by the Emperor. 

133. A special senatus-consultum contains the remainder 
of the arrangements relative to the organization and action 
of the high imperial court. 

Title XIV. Of the Judicial Class. 

134. The judgments of the courts of justice are entitled 
arrets. 

135. The presidents of the court of cassation, of the 
courts of appeal and of criminal justice, are appointed for life 



366 Constitution of the Year XII 

by the Emperor, and can be chosen from outside of the 
courts over which they shall preside. 

136. The tribunal of cassation assumes the denomination 
of court of cassation. 

The tribunals of appeal assume that of court of appeal; 

The criminal tribunals, that of court of criminal justice. 

The president of the court of cassation and those of the 
courts of appeal divided into sections assume the title of 
first president. 

The vice-presidents assume that of presidents. 

The commissioners of the government before the court 
of cassation, the courts of appeal and the courts of criminal 
justice, take the title of imperial proctireurs-general. 

The commissioners of the government before the other 
tribunals assume the title of imperial procureurs. 

Title XV. Of the Promulgation. 

137. The Emperor causes the sealing and promulgation of 
the organic senatus-consulta. 

The senatus-consulta. 

The actes of the Senate, 

The laws. 

The organic senatus-consulta, the senatus-consulta, and the 
actes of the Senate are promulgated at the latest on the tenth 
day following their emission. 

138. Two original copies are made of each of the docu- 
ments mentioned in the preceding article. 

Both are signed by the Emperor, attested by one of the 
titular grand dignitaries, each according to their rights and 
powers, countersigned by the secretary of state and the 
minister of justice, and sealed with the great seal of the state. 

139. One of these copies is deposited in the archives of 
the seal, and the other is transmitted to the archives of 
the public authority from which the acte emanated. 

140. The promulgation is thus expressed : 

"N. (the prenomen of the Emperor), by the grace of God 
and the constitutions of the Republic, Emperor of the French, 
to all present and to come, greeting : 

"The Senate, after having heard the orators of the Council 
of State, has decreed or resolved, and we order as follows : 

"(And if a law is in question) The Legislative Body has 



Constitution of the Year XII 367 

rendered . . . (the date) the following decree, in con- 
formity with the proposal made in the name of the Emperor, 
and after having heard the orators of the Council of State 
and of the sections of the Tribunate, the . 

"We command and require that the presents, invested with 
the seals of the State and inserted in the Bulletin of the 
Laws, be addressed to the courts, tribunals and administrative 
authorities, in order that they may inscribe them in their 
registers, observe them and cause them to be observed; and 
the high judge minister of justice is charged to supervise the 
publication of them." 

141. The executoi-y copies of the judgments shall be 
drawn up as follows : 

"N. (the prenomen of the Emperor), by the grace of God 
and the constitutions of the Republic, Emperor of the French, 
to all present and to come, greeting: 

"The court of . . . or the tribunal of . . . (if 
it is a tribunal of first instance), has rendered the follow- 
ing judgment:" 

(Here follows the arret or judgment.) 

"We command and require of all bailiffs upon this requi- 
sition to put the said judgment into execution ; of our pro- 
cureurs-general and our procureurs before the tribunals of 
the first instance, to take it in hand ; of all commanders and 
officers of the public forces, to lend assistance when it shall 
be legally required of them. 

"In testimony whereof the present judgment has been 
signed by the president of the court or the tribunal, and 
by the bailiff." 

Title XVI and Last 

142. The following proposition shall be presented for the 
acceptance of the people, in the forms prescribed by the 
arrctc of 20 Floreal, Year X: 

"The people desire the inheritance of the imperial dignity 
in the direct, natural, legitimate and adoptive lineage of 
Napoleon Bonaparte, and in the direct, natural, and legitimate 
lineage of Joseph Bonaparte and of Louis Bonaparte, as is 
regulated by the organic senatus-consultum of this day." 



368 Kingdom of Italy 

72. Documents upon the Kingdom of Italy. 

A deputation from the Italian Republic was present at the 
coronation of Napoleon as Emperor. These documents show how 
the occasion was utilized to transform the Italian Republic into 
the Kingdom of Italy and the manner in which the transaction 
was officially explained. The address to Napoleon and the second 
and more elaborate constitution mentioned in the document are in 
the Moiiiteiir for March 18 and 31, 1805. The general character 
of the constitution can be made out from what is given in these 
documents. 

References. Fournier, Napoleon, 293-295 ; Cambridge Mod- 
ern HiMory, IX, 247 ; Iiavisse and Kambaud, Histoire generale, IX, 
431-432. 

A. Constitutional Statute. March 17, 1805. Monitcur, 
March 19, 1805 (28 Ventose, Year XIII). 

The Council of State, in view of the unanimous desire of 
the united council and the deputation of the 15th instant: 

In view of article 60 of the constitution, upon the consti- 
tutional initiative : 

Decrees : 

1. The emperor of the French, Napoleon I, is King of 
Italy. 

2. The crown of Italy is hereditary in his direct and legiti- 
mate lineage, natural or adopted, from male to male, and 
to the perpetual exclusion of women and their descendants, 
provided, nevertheless, that his right of adoption cannot be 
extended over any other person than a citizen of the French 
Empire or of the Kingdom of Italy. 

3. At the moment in which foreign armies shall have 
evacuated the state of Naples, the Ionian Islands, and the 
island of Malta, the Emperor Napoleon shall transmit the 
hereditary crown of Italy to one of his legitimate, natural 
or adopted children. 

4. Dating from that time, the crown of Italy shall no 
longer be united with the crown of France upon the same 
head, and the successors of Napoleon First in the Kingdom 
of Italy shall be obliged to reside constantly upon the ter- 
ritory of the Italian Republic. 

5. Within the course of the present year, the Emperor 
Napoleon, with the advice of the Council of State and the 
deputations of the electoral colleges, shall give to the Italian 
monarchy constitutions founded upon the same bases as 



Kingdom of Italy 369 

those of the French Empire, and upon the same principles 
as the laws which he has already given to Italy. 

Signed, Napoleon. 

Melzi, Mareschalchi, Caprara, Paradisi, 

Fenaroli, Costabili, Luosi, Guiccardi. 

B. Proclamation of the Kingdom. March 19, 1805, Mon- 
iteur, March 23, 1805 (2 Germinal, Year XIII). 

The Council of State to the Peoples of the Kingdom of Italy. 

A new State, created in the midst of political commo- 
tions, cotdd not arrive all at once at a degree of perfection, 
consistency and strength, capable of assuring forever its ex- 
istence, its repose and its prosperity. The genius of the 
founder, however gigantic, however bold it might be, was 
bound to pause before insurmountable obstacles, and his wis- 
dom exhibited itself in not going beyond what circumstances 
would permit. Such was the lot of our republic, when, for 
the first time, it appeared suddenly upon the political horizon 
of Europe. 

It took a great step, when in the comitia of Lyons, under 
the auspices and under the direction of its creator, it gave 
itself a new constitution and proclaimed for its head the man 
whose power and enlightenment could elevate it most rapidly 
to the degree of consideration and wel:'^are to which its des- 
tinies would permit it to aspire. 

But this second organization could be only provisional, for 
it was then necessary to conform to the circumstances of the 
time and to wait for the result of the lessons of experience. 
Soon, indeed, experience proved that many things were lack- 
ing for the completion of the edifice; that its foundations 
were not solid enough ; and the conduct of affairs, however 
skillful, however unsullied might be the hands which guided 
them, was so slow and so embarrassed that one could not 
but perceive that the means which might be made use of 
were not sufificiently effective. 

Finally, the great example given by France served to carry 
conviction to all minds, and its happy results apprised us 
that the time had come to imitate it. 

From that time, therefore, the Council of State, charged 
especially by its institution with looking after the security 



370 Kingdom of Italy 

of the republic, has occupied itself with the means to effect 
a change which not only was rendered necessary by the 
events that were occurring about us, but was commanded by 
a still more pressing interest, that of our preservation. 

Already it had made known its thoughts and addressed its 
desires to the august head of the state; already it .had sub- 
mitted to him the result of its meditations, when it was in- 
vited to repair to Paris, in company with a numerous deputa- 
tion of members of all the constituted bodies) in order to 
be present at the grand solemnity of the coronation of Napo- 
leon, Emperor of the French. 

It was then that, having occasion to observe still more 
closely the splendid labors of that prodigious genius, admiring 
the state of glory and prosperity to which, as in an instant, 
he had again raised the nation of which he is the head, see- 
ing confidence, good order and tranquility reigning every- 
where, the Council of State turned its thoughts to the father- 
land, and, by a very natural feeling, coveted for that so dear 
fatherland the felicity of which it had come to contemplate 
the spectacle. 

Furthermore, tormented incessantly by the thought of 
the great dangers to be feared, the Council of State could not 
conceal the fact that these were bound to be always united 
in order to menace the state. It could not forget either the 
designs or interests of certain other powers, and not reflect 
with dismay upon the inequality of the forces, the danger 
of a precarious situation, and the power of the charms of our 
climate. 

It therefore concluded that it was its duty to take up 
again the work which it had commenced, and uniting with 
the deputies, all alike distinguished no less by the places 
which they occupy than by their zeal and their enlightenment, 
and all with one voice have expressed the opinion which 
they have believed the most useful and which without any 
doubt was already formed by all hearts. 

This opinion, which was dictated by love and investigation 
and was made a duty by the good of the fatherland, has 
been favorably received. Napoleon is King of Italy. 

It is our interest which has induced Napoleon to yield to 
our wishes; and in fact he did not wish tO' assume the crown, 
and he will keep it only as long as our interest shall be the 



British and Russian Treaty • 371 

law for it to his wisdom and the affection which he bears 
us ; . 

Finally, as he has wished to restrict the duration of his 
power, he will limit and regulate the extent and usage of it. 
He will give us a constitution, which will guarantee us our 
religion, the integrity of our territory, equality of rights, poli- 
tical and civil liberty, the irrevocability of the sales of the 
national lands, the exclusive right to fill offices of the state; 
which will reserve to the law alone the power to establish 
imposts, and which, in a word, will consecrate and consoli- 
date all the grand principles upon which the welfare of peo- 
ples and their tranquility are founded. Napoleon has made 
promise of this. Who can doubt that he does not intend, 
that he will not seek to fulfill his promise? 

Such are the results of the constitutional statute joined 
to this proclamation. 



73, Treaty of Alliance Between Great Britain 
and Russia. 

April 31, 1805. F. Martens. TraiUs de la Russie, II, 433-448, 

This treaty presents numerous points of interest. Among tiiose 
calling for particular notice are: (1) as the basis of the Third 
Coalition it shows the character of the arrangements by which 
the coalitions against France were built up ; (2) in its stipulations 
regarding the general peace it foreshadows the meeting of the con- 
gress of Vienna and some of its decisions. 

References. Fyffe, Modern Europe, I, 278-279 (Popular ed., 
187-188) ; Cambridge Modern History, IX, 245-246 ; Fournier, Na- 
poleon, 295-297 ; Rose, Napoleon, II, 7-8 ; Lanfrey, Napoleon, III, 
4-8 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire generale, IX, 94-95 ; Jaurfes, 
Histoire socialiste, VI, 208-210. 

In the name of the most holy and indivisible Trinity. 

His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias and His Maj- 
esty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and 
Ireland, animated by the desire to secure for Europe the 
peace, independence and well being of which it is deprived 
through the unmeasured ambition of the French government 
and the degree of influence out of all proportion which it 
tends to arrogate to itself, have resolved to employ all the 
means which are in their power, in order to obtain this sal- 



372 British and Russian Treaty 

utary aim and to prevent the renewal of such distressing cir- 
cumstances, and in consequence they have appointed to ar- 
range and agree to the measures which their magnanimous 
intentions demand. 

1. As the state of suffering in which Europe finds itself 
demands prompt remedies, their Majesties the Emperor of 
all the Russias and the King of the United Kingdom of 
Great Britain and Ireland have agreed to consult upon the 
means of causing its cessation, without waiting for the case of 
further encroachments on the part of the French govern- 
ment. They have agreed, in consequence, to employ ^"he 
most prompt and efficacious measures in order to form a 
general league of the states of Europe, and to bind them to 
accede to the present concert and to gather, for the purpose 
of fulfilling the aim, a force which, independent of that which 
His Britannic Majesty shall furnish, shall amount to 500,000 
effective men and to employ them with energy in order to 
bring the French government by inclination or by force to 
assent to the re-establishment of the peace and the equilibrium 
of Europe. 

2. This league shall have for its aim the accomplishment 
of that which is proposed by the present concert, to wit : 

A. The evacuation of the country of Hanover and of the 
north of Germany. 

B. The establishment of the independence of the republics 
of Holland and Switzerland. 

C. The re-establishment of the King of Sardinia in Pied- 
mont, with an enlargement as considerable as circumstances 
will permit. 

D. The future security of the Kingdom of Naples and the 
entire evacuation of Italy, including therein the island of 
Elba, by the French forces. 

E. The establishment of an order of things which guar- 
antees effectively the security and independence of the dif- 
ferent states and presents a solid barrier against future 
usurpations. 

3. His Britannic Majesty, in order to co-operate effective- 
ly on his side for the happy purposes of the present concert, 
agrees to contribute to the common efforts by the employ- 
ment of his land and sea forces, including his vessels suit- 
able for the transport of troops, according to what shall be 



British and Russian Treaty 373 

determined upon in this respect in the general plan of opera- 
tions. He will aid, besides, the different powers which shall 
accede thereto by subsidies, the amount of which shall cor- 
respond to the respective forces which it is decided to em- 
ploy; and in order that these pecuniary aids may be ap- 
portioned in the manner most suitable for the general wel- 
fare, and to assist the powers in the measure of the ef- 
forts which they shall make to contribute to the common 
success, it is agreed, that these subsidies shall be furnished 
(except by special arrangements) in the proportion of 1,250,- 
000 pounds sterling per annum for each hundred thousand 
men of regular troops and thus in proportion for a greater 
or less nun^ber, payable under the conditions specified below. 

6. Their Majesties agree that in case a league is formed 
such as has been specified in article i, they will not make 
peace with France except with the consent of all the powers 
which shall be parties in the said league, and in case the con- 
tinental powers shall not recall their forces until the peace, 
His Britannic Majesty agrees to continue the payment of 
the subsidies for the entire duration of the war. 

Separate Articles. 

3. The high contracting parties are agreed that it enters 
into the aim of the present concert to procure for Holland 
and for Switzerland, according to circumstances, suitable en- 
largements, such as the former Austrian Low Countries, in 
whole or in part, for the first and Geneva and Savoy for the 
second. 

They likewise agree that the arrangements which shall 
be made as the result of the war shall include in favor of 
Austria an augmentation of territory, such as is stipulated for 
it by its convention with the Emperor of all the Russias, and 
in favor of other states which may co-operate in the aim 
of the present concert acquisitions proportioned to their ef- 
forts for the common cause and compatible with the equili- 
brium of Europe. 

6. His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias and His" 



374 Treaty of Pressburg 

Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain 
and Ireland, having been induced to establish an energetic 
concert between themselves only with a view to assure to 
Europe a stable and solid peace founded upon the principles 
of justice, equity and international law, which are constantly 
guiding them, have recognized the necessity of agreeing even 
at present upon various principles which they shall bring for- 
ward according to a previous agreement as soon as the for- 
tunes of war shall furnish the necessity therefor. 

These principles are not to interfere in any manner with 
the national will in France relative to the form of the gov- 
ernment, nor in the other countries in which the combined 
armies may come to act ; not to appropriate in advance of the 
peace any of the conquests which may be made by one or the 
other of the belligerent parties, and to take possession of the 
cities and territories which may be wrested from the common 
enemy only in the name of the county or state to which they 
belong by recognized right and in every other case in the 
name of all the members of the league. 

Finally, to assemble at the end of the war a general con- 
gress, in order to discuss and settle upon the most precise 
foundations, what unfortunately has not been possible until 
now, the precepts of international law, and to assure the ob- 
servance, of them by the establishment of a federative system 
based upon the situation of the different states of Europe. 



74. Treaty of Pressburg, 

December 26, 1805 (5 Nivose, Year XIV). De Clercq, TraiUs, 
II, 145-151.. 

Austria became a member of the Third Coalition upon the 
terms outlined in No. 73. ITIm and Avisterlitz forced her to with- 
draw and to accept the terms granted by Napoleon in his treaty. 
It should be compared with the treaties of Campo Pormio and 
Luneville (Nos. 55 and 623, and the altered position in which 
it left Austria should be carefully noted. 

References. Fyffe. Modern Europe, I. 299-300, 307-308 (Pop- 
ular ed., 201-202, 206-207) ; Camtridae Modern History. IX, 261- 
262 : Fournier, Napoleon, 318-324 ; Rose, Napoleon. II, 41-46 ; 
Sloane, Napoleon, II, 251-252 ; Lanfrey. Napoleon. III. 101-106 ; 
Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire g6nerale, IX, 101-102 ; Jaurfes, 
Histoire socialiste, VI, 215-218. 

Maps. Putzger, Historischer Schul-Atlas, 26 ; Schrader, Atlas 
de geographie historique, 48 ; Vidal-Lablache, Atlas general, 41. 



Treaty of Pressburg 375 

His Majesty the Emperor of the French, King of Italy, 
and His Majesty the Emperor of Germany and of Austria, 
equally prompted by the desire to put an end to the calamities 
of the war, have resolved to proceed without delay to the 
conclusion of a definitive treaty of peace. . . . 

1. There shall be, dating from this day, peace and amity 
between His Majesty the Emperor of Germany and of 
Austria and His Majesty the Emperor of the French, King 
of Italy, their heirs and successors, their respective states 
and subjects, forever. 

2. France shall continue to possess in complete ownership 
and sovereignty the duchies, principalities, lordships and 
territories beyond the Alps, which were, prior to the present 
treaty, united or incorporated with the French Empire, or 
ruled by French laws and administrations. 

4. His Majesty the Emperor of Germany and of Austria 
renounces, as well for himself as for his heirs and succes- 
sors, the portion of the states of the Republic of Venice ceded 
to him in the treaties of Campo Formio and Luneville, which 
shall be united forever with the Kingdom of Italy. 

5. His Majesty the Emperor of Germany and of Austria 
recognizes His Majesty the Emperor of the French as King 
of Italy. But it is agreed that, in conformity with the decla- 
ration made by His Majesty the Emperor of the French at 
the time when he took the crown of Italy, as soon as the 
powers nam.ed in that declaration shall have fulfilled the con- 
ditions which are there set forth, the crowns of France and 
of Italy shall be separated forever, and they can no longer 
in any case be united upon the same head. His Majesty the 
Emperor of Germany and of Austria binds himself to recog- 
nize, at the time of the separation, the successor whom His 
Majesty the Emperor of the French shall give himself as 
King of Italy. 

6. The present treaty of peace is declared common to 
their Most Serene Highnesses the electors of Bavaria, Wur- 
temburg, and Baden, and to the Batavian Republic, allies 
in the present war of His Majesty the Emperor of the 
French, King of Italy. 

7. The electors of Bavaria and of Wurtemburg having 



376 Treaty of Pressburg 

taken the title of king, without however ceasing to belong 
to the Germanic Confederation, His Majesty the Emperor of 
Germany and of Austria recognizes them in that capacity. 

8. His Majesty the Emperor of Germany and of Austria, 
both for himself, his heirs and successors, and for the Prin- 
ces of his house, their respective heirs and successors, re- 
nounces the principalities, lordships, domains and territories 
hereinafter designated : 

Cedes and abandons to His Majesty the King of Bavaria, 
the Margravate of Burgau and its dependencies, the principal- 
ity of Eichstadt, the portion of the territory of Passau be- 
longing to His Royal Highness the Elector of Salzburg, 
and situated between Bohemia, Austria, the Danube and the 
Inn ; the county of Tyrol, including the principalities of 
Brixen and Trent; the seven lordships cf Vorarlburg with 
their enclaves; the county of Hohenems, the county of 
Konigsegg-Rothenfels, the lordships of Tettnang and Argen, 
and the city and territory of Lindau. 

To His Majesty the King of Wurtemburg, the five so- 
called cities of the Danube, to wit : Ehingen, Munderkingen, 
Riedlingen, Mengen, and Sulgen, with their dependencies; the 
Upper and Lower county of Hohenberg; the landgravate of 
Nellenbourg and the prefecture of Altorf, with their de- 
pendencies (the city of Constance excepted) ; the portion of 
Breisgau constituting an enclave within the Wurtemburg pos- 
sessions and situated to the east of a line drawn from 
Schlegelberg to Molbach, and the cities and territories of 
Willingen and Brentingen. 

To His Serene Highness the Elector of Baden, the Breis- 
gau (with the exception of the enclave and the separate por- 
tions above designated), the Ortenau and their dependencies, 
the city of Constance and the commandery of Meinau. 

The principalities, lordships, dom.ains and territories above 
said shall be possessed respectively by their Majesties the 
Kings of Bavaria and of Wurtemburg and by His Serene 
Highness the Elector of Baden, whether in suzerainty or in 
complete ownership and sovereignty, in the same manner, 
with the same titles, rights, and prerogatives as they were 
possessed by His Majesty the Emperor of Germany and of 
Austria, or the princes of His House, and not otherwise. 



Treaty of Pressburg 377 

10. The countries of Salzburg and Berechtesgaden belong- 
ing to His Royal and Excellent Highness the Archduke Fer- 
dinand shall be incorporated in the Empire of Austria: and 
His Majesty the Emperor of Germany and of Austria shall 
possess them in complete ownership and sovereignty, but with 
the title of duchy only. 

II. His Majesty the Emperor of the French, King of 
Italy, engages to obtain in favor of His Royal Highness the 
Archduke Ferdinand, Elector of Salzburg, the cession, by 
His Majesty the King of Bavaria, of the principality of 
Wurzbarg, as it was given to his Majesty by the reces of the 
deputation of the Germanic Empire of February 25, 1803. . . . 

13. His Majesty the King of Bavaria may occupy the 
city of Augsburg and its territory, unite them with his states, 
and possess them in full ownership a.nd sovereignty. His 
Majesty the King of Wurtemburg may likewise occupy, unite 
with his states, and possess in full ownership and sovereignty 
the county of Bondorff; and His Majesty the Emperor of 
Germany and of Austria agrees not to make any opposition 
thereto. 

14. Their Majesties the Kings of Bavaria and Wurtem- 
burg and His Most Serene Highness the Elector of Baden 
shall enjoy, over the territories ceded to them, as over their 
former states, the plenitude of sovereignty and of all the 
rights which are derived therefrom and which have been 
guaranteed by His Majesty the Emperor of the French, 
King of Italy, like and in the same manner as His Majesty 
the Emperor of Germany and of Austria and His Majesty 
the King of Prussia enjoy over their German states. His 
Majesty the Emperor of Germany and of Austria, whether 
as head of the Empire or as co-state, agrees not to impose 
any obstacle to the execution of the acts which have been 
done or may be done in consequence thereof. 

15. His Majesty the Emperor of Germany and of Austria, 
as well for himself, his heirs and successors, as for the 
princes of his House, their heirs and successors, renounces 
without exception all rights, whether of sovereignty or of 
suzerainty, all claims whatsoever, present or contingent, upon 
all the states of their Majesties the kings of Bavaria and 
Wurtemburg and His Serene Highness the Elector of Bnden, 



378 Kingdom of Naples 

and generally upon all the states, domains and territories 
included in the circles of Bavaria, Franconia and Swabia, as 
well as every title taken from the said domains and terri- 
tories ; and reciprocally all present or contingent claims of 
the said states at the expense of the House of Austria or 
of its princes are and shall remain extinguished forever: . . . 

17. His Majesty the Emperor Napoleon guarantees the 
integrity of the Empire of Austria in the condition v/herein 
it shall be in consequence of the present treaty of peace, 
likewise the integrity of the possessions of the princes of the 
House of Austria designated in the eleventh and twelfth arti- 
cles. 

Separate Article, 

There shall be paid by His Majesty the Emperor of Ger- 
many and of Austria, for redemption of all the contribu- 
tions imposed upon the different hereditary states occupied 
by the French army and not yet collected, a sum of forty 
million francs (metallic value) 

75. Documents upon Napoleon and the King- 
dom of Naples. 

These documents show the manner and official justification of 
the transfer of the Neapolitan crown from its Bourbon sovereign 
to Joseph Bonaparte. This event was the first of a series by 
which the Grand Empire was created. Something of the concep- 
tion of this empire can be learned from document B. 

Refeeences. Fyffe, Modern Europe, I, 300-303 (Popular ed., 
202-204): Foiirnier. Napoleon. ;^,27-329 : Rose, Napoleon, JI, 56- 
59 ; Sloane, Napoleon, II, 255-256 ; Lanfrey, Napoleon, III, 106-108. 

A. Proclamation to the Army. December 30, 1805. Mon- 
iteiiY, February i, 1806. 

At my Imperial Camp at Schoenbriinn, 

6 Nivose, Year XIV (December 30, 1805). 
Soldiers, 

For ten years past I have done everything to save the King 
of Naples; he has done everything to ruin himself. 

After the battles of Dego, Mondovi and Lodi he could 



Kingdom o£ Naples 379 

oppose to me only a feeble resistance. I trusted the words 
of that prince and was generous towards him. 

When the second coalition was dissolved at Marengo, the 
King of Naples, who had first commenced that unjust war, 
abandoned at Luneville by his allies, remained alone and 
without defence. He implored me ; I pardoned him a second 
time. 

A few months ago you were at the gates of Naples. I 
had plenty of legitimate reasons to suspect the treason which 
was meditated and to avenge the outrages, which had been 
committed. I was again generous. I recognized the neutral- 
ity of Naples; I ordered you to evacuate that kingdom; and 
for the third time the House of Naples Avas saved and 
strengthened. 

Shall we pardon a fourth time? shall we confide for a 
fourth time in a heart without faith, without honor, and 
without reason? No! no! the dynasty of Naples has ceased 
to reign ; its existence is incompatible with the repose of 
Europe and the honor of my crown. 

Soldiers, march; cast into the waves, supposing that they 
await you, those debilitated battalions of the tyrant of the 
seas. Show to the world in what manner we punish per- 
jurers. Be not slow to understand that all Italy is subject 
to my laws or to those of my allies ; that the most beautiful 
country of the world is liberated from the yoke of the most 
perfidious men ; that the sanctity of treaties is avenged, and 
that the manes of my brave soldiers butchered in the harbors 
of Sicily on their return from Egypt, after having escaped 
the perils of shipwreck, of the deserts, and of a hundred bat- 
tles, are at length appeased. 

Soldiers, my brother will march at your head ; he knows 
my plans; he is the depository of my authority; he has my 
entire confidence ; encompass him with yours. 

Napoleon. 

B. Imperial Decree making Joseph Bonaparte King of 
Naples. March 30, 1806. Duvergier, Lois. XY, 323. 

Napoleon, by the grace of God and the constitutions. Em- 
peror of the French, King of Italy, to all those to whom 
these presents shall come, greeting. 



380 Kingdom of Naples 

The interests of our people, the honor of our crown, and 
the tranquihty of the continent of Europe, requiring that we 
should assure in a stable and definitive manner the fate of 
the peoples of Naples and of Sicily, who have fallen into our 
power by the right of conquest, and who moreover make up 
part of the Grand Empire, we have declared and do declare 
by these presents that we recognize as King of Naples and of 
Sicily our well beloved brother Joseph Napoleon, grand elec- 
tor of France. That crown shall be hereditary, by order of 
primogeniture, in his masculine, legitimate and natural lin- 
eage. Should his said lineage become extinct, which God 
forbid, we intend to call thereto our legitimate and natural 
male children, by order of primogeniture, and in default of 
our legitimate and natural male children, those of our brother 
Louis and his masculine, legitimate and natural lineage, by 
order of primogeniture ; reserving to ourselves, if our brother 
Joseph Napoleon should die during our lifetime, without 
leaving legitimate and natural male children, the right to 
designate for the succession to the said crown a prince of 
our house, or even to call thereto an adopted child, accord- 
ing as we shall judge expedient for the interest of our peo- 
ples and for the advantage of the grand system which Divine 
Providence has destined us to establish. 

We institute in the said Kingdom of Naples and of Sicily 
six grand fiefs of the Empire, with the title of duchy and 
with the same advantages and prerogatives as those which 
have been instituted in the Venetian provinces united to our 
crown of Italy, in order that the said duchies may be grand 
fiefs of the Empire forever, appointments thereto, if there 
is occasion, falling to us or our successors. All the details of 
the formation of the said fiefs are remitted to the care of our 
said brother Joseph Napoleon. 

We reserve from the said Kingdom of Naples and of 
Sicily the disposal of one million of income, in order to be 
distributed to the generals, officers and soldiers of our army, 
who have rendered the most services to the fatherland and 
the throne, and whom we shall designate for that purpose, 
under the express condition of the said generals, officers and 
soldiers not having power before the expiration of ten years 
to sell or alienate the said incomes, except with our author- 
isation. 



Treaty between France and Holland 381 

The King of Naples shall be forever a grand dignitary of 
the Empire, under the title of grand elector ; reserving to 
ourselves, however, when we shall deem suitable, to create 
the dignity of prince vice-grand-elector. 

We intend that the crown of Naples and of Sicily, which 
we place upon the head of our brother Joseph Napoleon and 
his discendants, shall not affect injuriously in any manner 
their rights of succession to the throne of France. But it 
is likewise within our wish that the crowns of France, Italy, 
and Naples and Sicily, ma}'- never be united upon the same 
head. 



76. Treaty between France and Holland. 

May 24, 1806. De Clercq, Traites, II, 165-167. 

The event shown in this document belongs to the series by 
which the republics dependent upon France were transformed 
into monarchies and made, in effect if not in name, parts of the 
Grand Empire. Tlie reasons given for tlie change and the relation- 
ship with France should be particularly noticed. 

References. Fournier, Napoleon, 331-334 ; Sloane, Napoleon, 
II, 256 ; Lanfrey, Napoleon, III, 114-116 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, 
Histoire generale, IX, 488-493. 

His Imperial and Royal Majesty Napoleon, Emperor of 
the French, King of Italy, and the assembly of their High 
Mightinesses representing the Batavian Republic, presided 
over by His Excellency the Grand Pensionary, accompanied 
by the Council of State and the ministers and secretaries of 
state, considering : 

1st. That in view of the general tendency of opinion 
and the actual organization of Europe, a government without 
stability and certain duration cannot fulfill the aim of its in- 
stitution ; 

2d. That the periodical renewal of the head of the state 
will always be in Holland a source of dissensions, and 
abroad a constant subject of agitation and discord between 
the powers friendly or hostile to Holland ; 

3d. That an hereditary government alone can guarantee 
the tranquil possession of everything which is dear to the 
people of Holland, the free exercise of their religion, the 
preservation of their laws, their political independence and 
their civil liberty; 



382 Treaty between France and Holland 

4th. That the first of their mterests is to assure themselves 
of a powerful protection, under the shelter of which they 
can freely exercise their industry and maintain themselves in 
the possession of their territory, their commerce and their 
colonies ; 

5th. That France is essentially interested in the welfare 
of the people of Holland, the prosperity of the state and the 
stability of their institutions, as well in consideration of the 
northern frontier of the Empire, open and stripped of fortified 
places, as under the aspect of the principles and interests of 
general policy; 

1. His Majesty the Emperor of the French, King of Italy, 
both for himself and for his heirs and successors forever, 
guarantees to Holland the maintenance of its constitutional 
rights, its independence, the integrity of its possessions in 
the two worlds, its political, civil and religious liberty, as it 
is consecrated by the actually established laws, and the aboli- 
tion of every privilege in the matter of taxation. 

2. Upon the formal request made by their High Might- 
inesses representing the Batavian Republic, that Prince Louis 
Napoleon should be appointed a,nd crowned hereditarj^ and 
constitutional King of Holland, His Majesty defers to this 
opinion and authorises Prince Louis Napoleon to accept the 
crown of Holland, to be possessed by him and his natural, 
legitimate and masculine descendants, by order of primogen- 
iture, to the perpetual exclusion of women and their descend- 
ants. 

In consequence of this authorisation. Prince Louis Napoleon 
shall possess that crown under the title of king, and with all 
the power and all the authority which shall be determined by 
the constitutional laws which the Emperor Napoleon has 
guaranteed in the preceding article. 

Nevertheless, it is declared that the crowns of France arid 
of Holland can never be united upon the same head. 

4. In case of a minority, the regency belongs of right to 
the queen ; and in her default, the Emperor of the French, in 
his capacity as perpetual head of the imperial family, ap- 
points the regent of the kingdom ; he chooses from among 
the princes of the royal family, and, in their default, from 



The Continental System 383 

nmong the nationals. The minority of the king ends at the 
age of eighteen completed years. 

6. The King of Holland shall be in perpetuity a grand 
dignitary of the Empire, under the title of grand constable. 

7. The members of the reigning house of Holland shall 
remain personally subject to the provisions of the constitu- 
tional statute of March 30th last, forming the law of the im- 
perial family of France. 

8. The posts and employments of state, other than those 
appertaining to the personal service of the palace of the king, 
shall be conferred only upon nationals. 

9. The arms of the king shall be the ancient arms of Hol- 
land, quartered with the imperial eagle of France and sur- 
mounted by the royal crown. 

10. There shall be immediately concluded between the 
contracting powers a treaty of commerce, in virtue of which 
the subjects of Holland shall be treated at all times in the 
harbors and upon the territory of the French Empire as the 
most specially favored nation. 

Paris, this May 24, 1806. 



77. Documents upon the Continental System. 

The first five of these documents exhibit the steps whereby the 
neutral trade of the world was destroyed during the great com- 
mereial war between France and England. Document F shows a 
subsequent adjustment of the English system. Document G illus- 
trates the methods employed by Napoleon in the application of his 
system. The idea of conquering England by destroying her com- 
merce was an old French conception which the Directory had be- 
gun to apply. Napoleon resumed the policy at the renewal of the 
war in 1803 and his measures led to document A. 

References. The best consecutive account of the whole sys- 
tem is in Mahan, Sea Poioer and French Revolution, II. 265-357. 
Henry Adams, History of the United States. IV, Ch. IV, should 
be read with reference to documents C and D ; valuable comment 
upon the other documents maj' also be obtained through the in- 
dex. See also Cambridpe Modern History. IX, 361-380 ; Fournier. 
Napoleon, 503-507 ; Rose, Napoleon. 11. 95-99. 195-206 . 215-216 ; 
Lanfrey, Naooleon. III. 179-183, 357-358, IV, 269-278; Jaurfes, 
Histoire socialiste, VI, 303-340. 



384 The Continental System 

A. British Note to the Neutral Powers. May 16, 1806. 
American State Papers, Foreign Relations, III, 267. 

Downing Street, May 16, 1806. 

The undersigned, His Majesty's, principal Secretary of 
State for Foreign Affairs, has received His Majesty's com- 
mands to acquaint Mr. Monroe, that the king, taking into 
consideration the new and extraordinary means resorted to by 
the enemy for the purpose of distressing the commerce of his 
subjects, has thought fit to direct that the necessary measures 
should be taken for the blockade of the coast, rivers and 
ports, from the river Elbe to the port of Brest, both inclu- 
sive; and the said coast, rivers and ports are and must be 
considered as blockaded; but that His Majesty is pleased to 
declare that such blockade shall not extend to prevent neu- 
tral ships and vessels laden with goods not being the prop- 
erty of His Majesty's enemies, and not being contraband of 
war, from approaching the said coast, and entering into and 
sailing from the said rivers and ports (save and except the 
coast, rivers and ports from Ostend to the river Seine, al- 
ready in a state of strict and rigorous blockade, and which 
are to be considered as so continued), provided the said 
ships and vessels so approaching and entering (except as 
aforesaid), shall not have been laden at any port belonging 
to or in the possession of any of His Majesty's enemies ; and 
that the said ships and vessels so sailing from said rivers 
and ports (except as aforesaid) shall not be destined to any 
port belonging to or in possession of any of His Majesty's 
enemies, nor have previously broken the blockade. 

Mr. Monroe is therefore requested to apprise the Ameri- 
can consuls and merchants residing in England; that the 
coasts, rivers and ports above mentioned, must be considered 
as being in a state of blockade, and that from this time all 
the measures authorised by the law of nations and the re- 
spective treaties between His Majesty and the different neutral 
powers, will be adopted and executed with respect to vessels 
attempting to violate the said blockade after this notice. 

The undersigned requests Mr. Monroe, etc. 

C. J. Fox. 



The Continental System 385 

B. The Berhn Decree. November 21, 1806. Corres- 

pondance de Napoleon I, XIII, 555-557. Translation, based 
upon that of James Harvey Robinson, University of Penn- 
sylvania Translations and Reprints. 

From our Imperial Camp at Berlin, November 21, 1806. 
Napoleon, Emperor of the French and King of Italy, in 
consideration of the fact : 

1. That England does not recognize the system of inter- 
national law universally observed by all civilized nations ; 

2. That she regards as an enemy every individual belong- 
ing to the enemy's state, and consequently makes prisoners 
of war not only of the crews of armed ships of war but of 
the crews of ships of commerce and merchantmen, and even 
of commercial agents and of merchants travelling on business ; 

3. That she extends to the vessels and commercial wares 
and to the property of individuals the right of conquest, 
which is applicable only to the possessions of the belligerent 
power; 

4. That she extends to unfortified towns and commercial 
ports, to harbors and the mouths of rivers, the right of 
blockade, which, in accordance with reason and the customs 
of all civilized nations, is applicable only to fortified places ; 

That she declares places in a state of blockade, before 
which she has not even a single ship of war, although a 
place may not be blockaded except it be so completely 
guarded that no attempt to approach it can be made with- 
out imminent danger. That she declares also in a state of 
blockade places which all her united forces would be unable 
to blockade, such as entire coasts and the whole of a,n empire. 

5. That this monstrous abuse of the right of blockade 
has no other aim than to prevent communication among the 
nations and to raise the commerce and the industry of Eng- 
land upon the ruins of that of the continent. 

6. That, since this is the obvious aim of England, who- 
ever deals on the continent in English goods, thereby favors 
and renders himself an accomplice of her designs. 

7. That this policy of England, worthy of the earliest 
stages of barbarism, has profited that power to the detri- 
ment of every other nation. 

8. That it is a natural right to oppose such arms against 



386 The Continental System 

an enemy as he makes use of, and to fight in the same way 
that it fights; when it disregards all ideas of justice and 
every high sentiment, due to the civilization among mankind. 

We have resolved to apply to her the usages which she 
has sanctioned in her maritime legislation. 

The provisions of the present decree shall continue to be 
looked upon as embodying the fundamental principles of the 
Empire until England shall recognize that the law of war is 
one and the same on land and sea, and that the rights of war 
cannot be extended so as to include private property of any 
kind or the persons of individuals unconnected with the pro- 
fession of arms, and that the right of blockade should be re- 
stricted to fortified places actually invested by sufficient 
forces. 

We have consequentl}^ decreed and do decree that which 
follows: 

. I. The British Isles are declared to be in a state of block 
ade. 

2. All commerce and all correspondence with the British 
isles are forbidden. Consequently letters or packages direct- 
ed to England or to an Englishman or written in the English 
language shall not pass through the mails and shall be seized. 

3. Every individual who is an English subject, of what- 
ever state or condition he may be, who shall be discovered 
in any country occupied by our troops or by those of our al- 
lies, shall be made a prisoner of war. 

4. All warehouses, m.erchandise or property of whatever 
kind belonging to a subject of England shall be regarded as 
lawful prize. 

5. Trade in English goods is prohibited, and all goods 
belonging to England or coming from her factories or her 
colonies are declared lawful prize. 

6. Half of the product resulting from the confiscation of 
the goods and possessions declared lawful prize by the pre- 
ceding articles shall be applied to indemnify the merchants 
for the losses they have experienced by the capture of mer- 
chant vessels taken by English cruisers. 

7. No vessel coming directly from England or from the 
EngHsh colonies or which shall have visited these since the 
publication of the present decree shall be received in any port. 

8. Any vessel contravening the above provision by a false 



J 



The Continental System 387 

declaration shall be seized, and the vessel and cargo shall be 
confiscated as if it were EngHsh property. 

9. Our court of prizes at Paris shall pronounce final judg- 
ment in all cases arising in our Empire or in the countries 
occupied by the French army relating to the execution of the 
present decree. Our court of prizes at Milan shall pronounce 
final judgment in the said cases which may arise within our 
Kingdom of Italy. 

10. The present decree shall be communicated by our min- 
ister of foreign affairs tO' the kings of Spain, of Naples, of 
Holland and of Etruria, and to our other allies whose sub- 

jects, -like ours, are the victims of the unjust and barbarous /j 

maritime legislation of England. ^'' 

11. Our ministers of foreign affairs, of war, of the navj', 
of finance and of the police and our directors-general of the 
port are charged with the execution of the present decree so 
far as it affects them. 

Signed, Napoleon. ' 

C. British Order in Council, January 10, 1807. American 
State Papers, Foreign Relations, III, 5. 

Note communicated by Lord Hozvick to Mr. Monroe, dated 
Downing Street, January 10, 1807. 

The undersigned. His Majesty's principal Secretary of State 
of Foreign Affairs, has received His Majesty's commands 
to acquaint Mr. Monroe that the French government having 
issued certain orders, which, in violation of the usages of 
war, purport to prohibit the commerce of all neutral nations 
with His Majesty's dominions, and also to prevent such na- 
tions from trading with any other country in any articles, the 
growth, produce, or manufacture of His Majesty's dominions. 
And the said government having also taken upon itself to 
declare all His Majesty's dominions to be in a state of block- 
ade, at a time when the fleets of France and her allies are 
themselves confined within their own ports by the superior 
valor and discipline of the British navy. 

Such attempts, on the part of the enemy, giving to His 
Majesty an unquestionable right of retaliation, and warrant- 
ing His Majesty in enforcing the same prohibition of all 
commerce with France, which that Power vainly hopes to 



388 The Continental System 

effect against the commerce of His Majesty's naval subjects, 
a prohibition which the superiority of His Majesty's naval 
forces might enable him to support, by actually investing the 
ports and coasts of the enemy with numerous squadrons and 
cruisers, so as to make the entrance or approach thereto mani- 
festly dangerous. 

His Majesty, though unwilling to follow the example of 
his enemies by proceeding to an extremity so distressing to 
all nations not engaged in the war, and carrying on their ac- 
customed trade, yet feels himself bound, by a due regard to 
the just defence of the rights and interests of his people, not 
to suffer such measures to be taken by the enemy, without 
taking some steps, on his part, to restrain this violence ; and 
to retort upon them the evils of their own injustice. Mr. Mon- 
roe is, therefore, requested to apprise the American consuls 
and merchants residing in England, that His Majesty has, 
therefore,, judged it expedient to order thatino vessel shall be 
permitted to trade from one port to another, both which ports 
shall belong to, or be in the possession of, France or her 
allies, or shall be so far under their control as that British 
vessels may not freely trade thereat ; and that the command- 
ers of His Majesty's ships of war and privateers have been 
instructed to warn every .neutral vessel coming from any such 
port, and destined to another port, to discontinue her voyage, 
and not to proceed to any such port; and every vessel after 
being so warned, or any vessel coming from any such port, 
after a reasonable time shall have been afforded for receiving 
information of this His Majesty's order, which shall be found 
proceeding to another such port, shall be captured and brought 
in, and, together with her cargo, shall be condemned as law- 
ful prize. And that, from this time, all the measures author- 
ised by the law of nations, and the respective treaties between 
His Majesty and the different neutral powers, will be adopt- 
ed and executed with respect to vessels attempting to violate 
the said order after this notice. HowiCK. 

D. British Order in Council. November ii, 1807. Amer- 
ican State Papers, Foreign Relations, III, 269-270. 



The Continental System 389 

At the Court at the Queen's Palace, the nth of November, 

1S07: Present, the King's Most Excellent 

Majesty in Council. 

Whereas certain orders establishing an unprecedented sys- 
tem of warfare against this kingdom, and aimed especially 
at the destruction of its commerce and resources, were some 
time since issued by the government of France, by which ''the 
British islands were declared to be in a state of blockade," 
thereby subjecting to capture and condemnation all vessels, 
with their cargoes, which should continue to trade with His 
Majesty's dom.inions ; 

And, whereas, by the same order, '"all trading in English 
merchandise is prohibited, and every article of merchandise 
belonging to England, or coming from her colonies, or of her 
manufacture, is declared lawful prize :" 

And, whereas, the nations in alliance with France, and un- 
der her control, were required to give, and have given, and do 
give, effect to such orders : 

And, whereas. His Majesty's order of the 7th of January 
last has not answered the desired purpose, either of compel- 
ling the enemy to recall those orders, or of inducing neutral 
nations to interpose, with effect, to obtain their revocation, 
but on the contrary, the same have been recently enforced 
with increased rigor : 

And, whereas. His Majesty, under these circumstances, 
finds himself compelled to take further measures for assert- 
ing and vindicating his just rights, and for supporting that 
maritime power which the exertions and valor of his people 
have, under the blessings of Providence, enabled him to es- 
tablish and maintain ; and the maintenance of which is not 
more essential to the safety and prosperity of His Majesty's 
dominions, than it is to the protection of such states as still 
retain their independence, and to the general intercourse and 
happiness of mankind : 

His Majesty is therefore pleased, by and with the advice 
of his privy council, to order, and it is hereby ordered, that 
all the ports and places of France, and her allies, or of any 
other country at war with His Majesty, and all other ports 
or places in Europe, from which, although not at war with 
His Majesty, the British flag is excluded, and all ports or 
places in the colonies belonging to His Majesty's enemies, 



390 The Continental System 

shall, from henceforth, be subject to the same restrictions in 
point of trade and navigation, with the exceptions hereinafter 
mentioned, as if the same were actually blockaded by His 
Majesty's naval forces, in the most strict and rigorous man- 
ner : And it is hereby further ordered and declared, that all 
trade in articles which are of the produce or manufacture of 
the said countries or colonies shall be deemed and considered 
to be unlawful ; every vessel trading from or to the said coun- 
tries or colonies, together with all goods and merchandise 
on board and all articles of the produce or manufacture of 
the said countries or colonies, shall be captured and con- 
demned as a prize to the captors. 

But, although His Majesty would be fully justified by the 
circumstances and considerations above recited, in establish- 
ing such system of restrictions with respect to all the coun- 
tries and colonies of his enemies, without exception or quali- 
fication, yet His Majesty being, nevertheless, desirous not to 
subject neutrals to any greater inconvenience than is abso- 
lutely inseparable from the carrying into effect His Majesty's 
just determination to counteract the designs of his enemies, 
and to retort upon his enemies themselves the consequences 
of their own violence and injustice; and being yet willing to 
hope that it may be possible (consistently with that object) 
still to allow to neutrals the opportunity of furnishing them- 
selves with colonial produce for their own consumption and 
supply, and even to leave open, for the present, such trade 
with His Majesty's enemies as shall be carried on directly 
with the ports of His Majesty's dominicns, or of his allies, in 
the manner hereinafter mentioned. 

His Majesty is, therefore, pleased further to order and it 
is hereby ordered, that nothing herein contained shall extend 
to subject to capture or condemnation any vessel, or the cargo 
of any vessel, belonging to any country not declared by this 
order to be subjected to the restrictions incident to a state of 
blockade, which shall have cleared out Vvith such cargo from 
some port ot place of the country to which she belongs, 
either in Europe or America, or from some free port in His 
Majesty's colonies, under circumstances in which such trade, 
from such free ports, is permitted, direct to some port or 
place in the colonies of His Majesty's enemies, or from those 
colonies direct to the country to which such vessel belongs, 



The Continental System 391 

or to some free port in His Majesty's colonies, in such cases, 
and with such articles, as it may be lawful to import into such 
free port ; nor to any vessel, or the cargo of any vessel, be- 
longing to any country not at war with His Majesty, which 
shall have cleared out under such regulations as His Maj- 
esty may think fit to prescribe, and shall be proceeding- direct 
from some port or place in this kingdom, or from Gibraltar, 
or Malta, or from, any port belonging to His Majesty's alUes, 
to the port specified in her clearance ; nor to aay vessel, or 
the cargo of any vessel, belonging tb any country not at war 
with His Majesty, which shall be coming from any port or 
place in Europe which is declared by this order to be subject 
to the restrictions incident to a state of blockade, destined to 
some port or place in Europe belon,<?ing to His Majesty, and 
which shall be on her voyage direct thereto; but these excep- 
tions are not to be understood as exempting from capture 
or confiscation any vessel or goods which shall be liable 
thereto in respect to having entered or departed from any 
port or place actually blockaded by His Majesty's squadrons 
or ships of war, or for being enemy's property, or for any 
other cause than the contravention of his present order. 

And the commanders of His Majesty's ships of war and 
privateers, and other vessels acting under His Majesty's com- 
mission, shall be, and are hereby, instructed to warn every 
vessel which shall have commenced her voyage prior to any 
notice of this order, and shall be destined to any port of 
France or of her allies or of any other country at war with 
His Majesty or any port or place from which the British 
flag, as aforesaid, is excluded, or to any colony belonging to 
His Majesty's enemies, and which shall not have cleared out 
as is hereinbefore allowed, to discontinue her voyage, and to 
proceed to some port or place in this kingdom, or to Gibral- 
tar, or Malta ; and any vessel which, after having been so 
warned or after a reasonable time shall have been afforded 
for the arrival of information of this His Majesty's order at 
any port or place from which she sailed, or which, after hav- 
ing notice of this order, shall be found in the prosecution of 
any voyage contrarj^ to the restrictions contained in this or- 
der, shall be captured, and, together with her cargo, con- 
demned as lawful prize to the captors. 

And, whereas, countries not engaged in the war have ac- 



392 The Continental System 

quiesced in these orders of France, prohibiting all trade in 
any articles the produce or manufacture of His Majesty's 
dominions; and the merchants of those countries have given 
countenance and effect to those prohibitions by accepting from 
persons, styling themselves commercial agents of the enemy, 
resident at neutral ports, certain documents, termed "certi- 
ficates of origin," being certificates obtained at the ports of 
shipment, declaring that the articles of the cargo are not of 
the produce or manufacture of His Majesty's dominions, or 
to that effect. 

And, whereas, this expedient has been directed by France, 
and submitted to by such merchants, as part of the new sys- 
tem of warfare directed against the trade of this kingdom, 
and as the most effectual instrument of accomplishing the 
same, and it is therefore essentially necessary to resist it. 

His Majesty is therefore pleased, by and with the advice 
of his privy council, to order, and it is hereby ordered, that 
if any vessel, after reasonable time shall have been afforded 
for receiving notice of this His Majesty's order, at the port 
or place from which such vessel shall have cleared out shall 
be found carrying any such certificate or document as afore- 
said, or any document referring to or authenticating the 
same, such vessel shall be adjudged lawful prize to the cap- 
tor, together with the goods laden therein, belonging to the 
person or persons by whom, or on whose behalf, any such 
document was put on board. 

And the right honourable the Lords Commissioners of His 
Majesty's Treasury, His Majesty's principal Secretaries of 
State, the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, and the 
Judges of the High Court of Admiralty, and Courts of Vice- 
Admiralty, are to take the necessary measures herein as to 
them shall respectively appertain. W. Fawkener. 

E. The Milan Decree. December 17, 1807. Correspon- 
dance de Napoleon I, XVI, 192-193. Translation, James 
Harvey Robinson, University of Pennsylvania Translations 
and Reprints. 

At Our Royal Palace at Milan, December -i.7, 1807. 
Napoleon, Emperor of the French, King of Italy, Protector 
of the Confederation of the Rhine. In view of the measures 



The Continental System 393 

adopted by the British government on the nth of November 
last by which vessels belonging to powers which are neutral 
or are friendly and .even allied with England are rendered 
liable to be searched by British cruisers, detained at certain 
stations in England, and subject to an arbitrary tax of a 
certain per cent, upon their cargo to be regulated by English 
legislation. 

Considering that by these acts the English government has 
denationalized the vessels of all the nations of Europe, and 
that no government may compromise in any degree its inde- 
pendence or its rights — all the rulers of Europe being jointly 
responsible for the sovereignty and independence of their 
flags, — and that, if through unpardonable weakness which 
would be regarded by posterity as an indelible stain, such 
tyranny should be admitted and become consecrated by cus- 
tom, the English would take steps to give it the force of law, 
as they have already taken advantage of the toleration of 
governments to establish and to give the right of blockade an 
arbitrary extension which threatens the sovereignty of every 
state : We ha.ve decreed and do decree as follows : 

1. Every vessel of whatever nationality which shall sub- 
mit to be searched by an English vessel or shall consent to a 
voyage to Englarid, or shall pay any tax whatever to the Eng- 
lish government is ipso facto declared denationalized, loses 
the protection afforded by its flag and becomes English prop- 
erty. 

2. Should such vessels which are thus denationalized through 
the arbitrary measures of the English government enter our 
ports or those of our allies or fall into the hands of our 
ships of war or of our privateers they shall be regarded as 
good and lawful prizes. 

3. The British Isles are proclaimed to be in a state of 
blockade both by land and sea. Every vessel of whatever 
nation or whatever may be its cargo, that sails from the ports 
of England or from those of the English colonies or of coun- 
tries occupied by English troops, or is bound for England or 
for any of the English colonies or any country occupied by 
English troops, becomes, by violating the present decree, a 
lawful prize, and may be captured by our ships of war and 
adjudged to the captor. 

4. These measures, which are only a just retaliation 



394 The Continental System 

against the barbarous system adopted by the Enghsh govern- 
ment, which models its legislation upon that of Algiers, shall 
cease to have any effect in the case of those nations v^^hich 
shall force the English to respect their flags. They shall con- 
tinue in force so long as that government shall refuse to- ac- 
cept the principles of international law which regulate the 
relations of civilized states in a state of war. The provisions 
of the present decree shall be ipso facto abrogated and void 
so soon as the English government shall abide again by the 
principles of the law of nations, which are at the same time 
those of justice and honor. 

All our ministers are charged with the execution of the 
present decree, which shall be printed in the Bulletin dcs lois. 

F. British Order in Council, April 26, 1809. American 
State Papers, Foreign Relations, III, 241. 

At the Court at the Queen's Palace, the 26Ul of April, i8o<;; 
Present, the King's Most Excellent Majesty in council. 

Whereas, His Majesty, by his order in council of the nth 
of November, 1807, was pleased, for the reasons assigned 
therein, to order that "all the ports and places of France and 
her allies, or of any other country at war with His Majesty, 
and all other ports or places in Europe, from which, although 
not at war with His Majesty, the British flag is excluded, 
and all ports or places in the colonies belonging to His Maj- 
esty's enemies, should from henceforth be subject to the same 
restrictions in point of trade or navigation as if the same 
were actually blockaded in the most strict and vigorous man- 
ner;" and also to prohibit "all trade in articles which are the 
produce or manufacture of the said countries or colonies;" 
and whereas, His Majesty, having been nevertheless desirous 
■ not to subject those countries which were in alliance or amity 
with Hi,s Majesty to any greater inconvenience than was ab- 
solutely inseparable from carrying into effect His Majesty's 
just determination to counteract the designs of his enemies, 
did make certain exceptions and modifications expressed in 
the said order of the nth of November, and in certain sub- 
sequent orders of the 25th of November, declaratory of the 
aforesaid order of the nth of November and of the 18th of 
December, 1807, and of the 30th of March, 1808; 



The Continental System 395 

And whereas, in consequence of diverse events which have 
taken place since the date of the first-mentioned order, affect- 
ing the relations between Great Britain and the territories 
of other powers, it is expedient that sundry parts and pro- 
visions of the said orders should be ordered or revoked ; 

His Majesty is therefore pleased, by and with the advice 
of his privy council, to revoke and annul the said several or- 
ders, except as hereinafter expressed ; and so much of the 
said orders, except as aforesaid, is hereby revoked accord- 
ingly. And His Majesty is pleased, by and with the advice of 
his privy council, to order, and it is hereby ordered, that all 
the ports and places as far north as the river Ems, inclu- 
sively, under the government styling itself the Kingdom of 
Holland, and all ports and places under the government of 
France, together with the colonies, plantations, and settle- 
ments in the possession of those governments^ respectively, 
and all ports and places in the northern parts of Italy, to be 
reckoned from the ports of Orbitello and Pesaro, inclusively, 
shall continue, and be subject to the same restrictions, in 
point of trade and navigation, without any exception, as 
if the same were actually blockaded by His Majesty's naval 
forces in the most strict and rigorous manner ; and that every 
vessel trading from and to the said countries or colonies, 
plantations or settlements, together with all goods and mer- 
chandise on board, shall be condemned as prize to the captors. 

And His Majesty is further pleased to order, and it is 
hereby ordered, that this order shall have effect from the day 
of the date thereof with respect to any ship, together with 
its cargo, which may be captured subsequent to such day, on 
any vo\'age which is and shall be rendered legal by this or- 
der, although such voyage, at the time of the commencement 
of the same, was unlawful, and prohibited under the said 
former orders ; and such ships, upon being brought in, shall 
be released accordingly ; and with respect to all ships, to- 
gether with their cargoes, which may be captured in any voy- 
age which was permitted under the exceptions of the orders 
above mentioned, but which is not permitted according to the 
provisions of this order, His Majesty is pleased to order, and 
it is hereby ordered that such ships and their cargoes shall not 
be liable to condemnation, unless they shall have, received ac- 
tual notice of the present order, as were allowed for con- 



396 The Continental System 

structive notice in the orders of the 25th of November, 1807, 
and the i8th of May, 1808, at the several places and latitudes 
therein specified. 

And the right honorable the Lords Commissioners of His 
Majesty's Treasury, His Majesty's principal Secretary of 
State, the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, and the 
Judge of the High Court of Admiralty, and judges of the 
courts of vice-admiralty, are to give the necessary directions 
herein as to them may respectively appertain. 

Stephen Cottrell. 

G. The Rambouillet Decree. March 22, 1810, Duvergier, 
Lois. XVII, 59. 

Napoleon . . . considering that the government of the 
United States, by an act dated March i, 1809, which forbids 
the entrance of the ports, harbors and rivers of the said states 
to all French vessels, orders : 

1st. That, dating from the 20th of May following, the 
vessels under the French flag which shall arrive in the United 
States shall be seized and confiscated, as well as their car- 
goes ; 

2d. That, after the same date, no merchandise and pro- 
ductions coming from the soil or manufactures of France or 
of its colonies can be imported into the said United States, 
from any port or foreign place whatsoever, under penalty of 
seizure, confiscation and fine of three times the value of the 
merchandise ; 

3d. That American vessels cannot repair to any port of 
France, its colonies or dependencies. 

We have decreed and do decree as follows : 

I. That all vessels navigating under the flag of the United 
States, or possessed in whole or in part by any citizen or 
subject of that power, which, dating from May 20, 1809, rhay 
have entered or shall enter into the ports of our Empire, our 
colonies or the countries occupied by our armies, shall be 
seized, and the products of the sales shall be deposited in the 
surplus fund. 

Vessels which may be charged with despatches or commis- 
sions of government of the said states and which have not 



Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire 397 

cargo or merchandise on board are excepted from this pro- 
vision. 

2. Our grand judge, minister of justice, and our minister 
of finance, are charged with the execution of the present de- 
cree. 



78. Documents upon the Dissolution of the 
Holy Roman Empire. 

The destruction of the Holy Roman Empire, begun in the trea- 
ties of Basel and Campo Formio (Nos. 48 and 55), was finally 
completed by the organization of the Confederation of the Rhine. 
The most important feature of document A is the relationship 
which it creates between France and each of the confederated 
states. By subsequent acts of accession nearly all the German 
states, except Austria and Prussia, became members. In the other 
documents the important features are the explanations for the 
action that is taken. 

References. Fyffe, Modern Europe, I, 303-306 (Popular ed., 
204-206) ; Cambridge Modern History, IX, 268-269; Fisher, Napo- 
leonic Statesmanship. Germany, ch. v ; f ournier. Napoleon, 385- 
340 ; Rose, Napoleon, II. 69-72 ; Sloane, Napoleon, II, 259-262 ; 
Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire generale, IX, 503-505. 

Maps. Droysen, Historischer Hand-Atlas, 48-49 ; Lane-Poole, 
Historical Atlas of Modern Europe, XII. 

A. Treaty for Establishing the Confederation. July 12, 
1806. De Clercq, Traitcs, II, 171-179. 

His Majesty, the Emperor of the French, King of Italy, 
of the one part, and of the other part their Majesties the 
Kings of Bavaria and of Wurtemburg and their most Serene 
Highnesses the Electors, the Archchancellor of Baden, the 
Duke of Berg end of Cleves, the Landgrave of Hesse-Darm- 
stadt, the princes of Nassau-Usingen and Nassau- Weilburg, 
the princes of Hohenzollern-Heckingen and Hohenzollern- 
Sigmaringen. the princes of Salm-Salm and Salm-Kirburg, 
the Prince of Isneburg-Birstein, the Duke of Aremberg and 
the Prince of Lichtenstein, and the Count of Leyen, wishing, by 
suitable stipulations, to assure the internal peace of the south 
of Germany, for which experience for a long time past, and 
again quite recenth\ has shown that the Germanic constitu- 
tion can no longer offer any sort of guarantee. . . . 

I. The states of . . . [names of the parties of the 
second part] shall be forever separated from the territory of 



398 Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire 

the Germanic Empire and united among themselves by a 
separate confederation, under the name of the Confederated 
States of the Rhine. 

3. Each of the kings and confederated princes shall re- 
nounce those of his titles which express any relations with 
the Germanic Empire; and on the ist of August next he 
shall cause the diet to be notified of his separation from the 
Empire. 

4. His Most Serene Highness the Archchancellor shall 
take the titles of Prince Primate and Most Eminent High- 
ness. The title of prince primate does not carry with it any 
prerogative contrary to the plenitude of sovereignty which 
each of the confederates shall enjoy. 

6. The common interests of the confederated states shall 
be dealt with in a diet, of which the seat shall be at Frank- 
fort, and which shall be divided into two colleges, to wit: 
the college of kings and the college of princes. 

12. His Majesty the Emperor of the French shall be pro- 
claimed Protector of the Confederation, and in that capacity, 
upon the decease of each prince primate, he shall appoint the 
successor of that one. 

[Articles 13-34 provide for a large number of territorial 
changes, principally consolidations in the interests of the larger 
states of the confederation.] 

35. There shall be between the French Empire and the 
Confederated States of the Rhine, collectively and separately, 
an alliance in virtue of which' every continental war which 
one of the high contracting parties may have to carry on 
shall immediately become common to all the others. 

38. The contingent to be furnished by each of the allies 
in case of war is as follows : France shall furnish 200,000 men 
of all arms; the Kingdom of Bavaria 30,000 men of all arms; 
the Kingdom of Wurtemburg i2,cco ; the Grand Duke of 
Baden 8,000; the Grand Duke of Berg 5,000; the Grand Duke 
of Darmstadt 4,000; Their Most Serene Highnesses the 
Dukes and the Prince of Nassau, together with the other 
confederated princes, shall furnish a contingent of 4,000 men. 



Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire 399 



39. The high contracting parties reserve to themselves the 
admission at a later time into the new confederation of other 
princes and states of Germany whom it shall be found for 
the common interest to admit thereto. 



B. Note of Napoleon to the Diet. August i, 1806. De 
Clercq, Traites, II, 183-184. Translation, Jam^es Harvey Rob- 
inson, University of Pennsylvania Translations and Reprints. 

The undersigned, charge d'affaires of His Majesty the 
Emperor of the French and King of Italy at the general diet 
of the German Empire, has received orders from His Maj- 
esty to make the following declarations to the diet : 

Their Majesties the Kings of Bavaria and of Wurtemberg, 
the sovereign princes of Regensburg, Baden, Berg, Hesse- 
Darmstadt and Nassau, as well as the other leading princes 
of the south and west of. Germany have resolved to form, a 
confederation between themselves which shall secure them 
against future emergencies, and have thus ceased to be states 
of the Empire. 

The position in which the treaty of Pressburg has directly 
placed the courts allied to France, and indirectly those princes 
whose territory they border or surround, being incompatible 
with the existence of an empire, it becomes a necessity for 
those rulers to reorganize their relations upon a new system 
and to remove a contradiction which could not fail to be a 
permanent source of agitation, disquiet and danger. 

France, on the other hand, is directly interested in , the 
maintenance of peace in southern Germany and yet must ap- 
prehend that, the moment she shall cause her troops to re- 
cross the Rhine, discord, the inevitable consequence of contra- 
dictory, uncertain and ill-defined conditions, will again disturb 
the peace of the people and reopen, possibly, the war on the 
continent. Feeling it incumbent upon her to advance the wel- 
fare of her allies and to assure them the enjoyment of all the 
advantages which the treaty of Pressburg secures them and 
to which she is pledged, France cannot but regard the con- 
federation that they have formed as a natural result and a 
necessary sequel to that treaty. 



400 Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire 

For a long period successive changes have, from century 
to century, reduced the German constitution to a shadow ot 
its former self. Time has altered all the relations in respect 
to size and importance which originally existed among the 
various members of the confederation, both as regards each 
other and the whole of which they have formed a part. 

The diet has no longer a will of its ov/n. The sentences 
of the superior courts can .no longer be executed. Everything 
indicates such serious weakness that the federal bond no 
longer offers any protection whatever and only constitutes a 
source of dissension and discord between the powers. The 
results of three coalitions have increased this weakness to 
the last degree. An electorate has been suppressed by the 
annexation of Hanover to Prussia. A king in the north has 
incorporated with his other lands a province of the Empire. 
The treaty of Pressburg assures complete sovereignty to 
their majesties the kings of Bavaria and of Wurtemburg and 
to His Highness the Elector of Baden. This is a prerogative 
which the other electors will doubtless demand, and which 
they are justified in demanding; but this is in harmony nei- 
ther with the letter nor the spirit of the constitution of the 
Empire. 

His Majesty the Emperor and King is, therefore, compelled 
to declare that he can no longer acknowledge the existence 
of the German constitution, recognizing, however, the entire 
and absolute sovereignty of each of the princes whose states 
compose Germany to-day, maintaining with them the same 
relations as with the other independent powers of Europe. 

His Majesty the Emperor and King has accepted the title 
of Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine. He has done 
this with a view only to peace, and in order that by his con- 
stant mediation between the weak and the powerful he may 
obviate every species of dissension and disorder. 

Plaving thus provided for the dearest interests of his peo- 
ple and of his neighbors, and having assured, so far as in 
him lay, the future peace of Europe and that of Germany in 
Darticular, heretofore constantly the theatre of war, by remov- 
ing a contradiction which placed people and princes alike un- 
der the delusive protection of the system contrary both to their 
political interests and to their treaties, Plis Majesty the Em- 
peror and King trusts that the nations of Europe will at last 



Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire 401 

close their ears to the insinuations of those who would main- 
tain an eternal war upon the continent. He trusts that the 
French armies' which have crossed the Rhine have done so 
for the last time, and that the people of Germany will no 
longer witness, except in the a,nnals of the past, the horrible 
pictures of disorder, devastation and slaughter which war 
invariably brings with it. 

His Majesty declared that he would never extend the lim- 
its of France beyond the Rhine, and he has been faithful to 
his promise. At present his sole desire is so to employ the 
means which Providence has confided to him as to free the 
seas, restore the liberty of commerce and thus assure the 
peace and happiness of the world. Backer. 

Regensburg, August i, 1806. 

C. Declaration of the Confederated States. August i, 1806. 
De Clercq, Traites, H, 185-186. 

The undersigned, Ministers Plenipotentiary to the general 
diet of the Germanic Empire, have received orders to com- 
municate to Your Excellencies, in the name of their most 
high principals, the following declaration : 

The events of the last three wars which almost without 
interruption have disturbed the repose of Germany, and the 
political changes which have resulted therefrom, have put in 
broad daylight the sad truth that the bond which ought to 
unite the different members of the Germanic body is no long- 
er sufficient for that purpose, or rather that it is already 
broken in fact; the feeling of this truth has been already a 
long time in the hearts of all Germans ; and however painful 
may have been the experience of latter years, it has in real- 
ity served only to put beyond doubt the senility of a consti- 
tution respectable in its origin, but become defective through 
the instability inherent in all human institutions. Doubtless 
it is to that instability alone that the scission which was ef- 
fected in the Empire in 1795 must be attributed, and which 
had for result the separation of the interests of the north 
from those of the south of Germany. From that moment all 
idea of a fatherland and of common interests was of necessity 
bound to disappear ; the words war of the Empire and peace 
of the Empire became devoid of meaning; one sought in vain 



402 Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire 

for Germany in the midst of the Germanic body. The princes 
who bordered upon France, left to themselves and exposed 
to all the evils of a war to which they could not seek to put 
an end b)'^ constitutional means, saw themselves forced to 
free themselves from the common bond by separate peace ar- 
rangements. 

The treaty of Luneville and still more the recez of the 
Empire of 1803, should no doubt have appeared sufficient to 
give new life to the Germanic constitution, by causing the 
feeble parts of the system to disappear and by consolidating 
its principal supports. But the events which have occurred 
in the last six months, under the eyes of the entire Empire, 
have destroyed that hope also and have again put beyond 
doubt the complete insufficiency of the existing constitution. 
The urgency of these important considerations has diCterm.ined 
the sovereigns and princes of the south and west of Germany 
to form a new confederation suited to the circumstances of 
the time. In freeing themselves, by this declaration, from 
the bonds which have united them up to the present with 
the Germanic Empire, they are only following the systems 
established by anterior facts, and even by the declarations 
of the leading states of the Empire. It is true, they might 
have preserved the empty shadow of an extinct constitution; 
but they have believed that it was more in conformity with 
their dignity and with the purity of their intentions to make 
frank and 'open declaration of their resolution and of the 
motives which have influenced them. 

Moreover, they would flatter themselves in vain upon at- 
taining the desired aim, if they were not at the same time as- 
sured of a powerful protection. The monarch whose views 
are always found to be in conformity with the true interests 
of Germany charges himself with that protection. A guar- 
antee so powerful is tranquilizing under a double aspect. It 
offers the assurance that His Majesty the Emperor of the 
French will have at heart, as well for the interest of his glory 
as for the advantage of his own French Empire, the main- 
tenance of the new order of things and the consolidation of 
the internal and external tranquility. That precious tranquil- 
ity is the principal object of the Confederation of the Rhine, 
of which the co-states of the sovereigns in whose name the 
present declaration is made will see the proof in the oppor- 



Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire 403 

tuiiity which is left to each of them to accede to it, if his 
poMLion makes it desirable for him to do so. 

In discharging this duty, we nave the honor to be, . . . 
(Signed by the representatives of thirteen sovereigns.) 

D. Abdication of Francis II. August 7, 1806. Moniteur. 
August 14, 1806. Translation, James Harvey Robinson, Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania Translations and Reprints. 

We, Francis the Second, by the Grace of God Roman Em- 
peror Elect, Ever August, Hereditary Emperor of Austria, 
etc., King of Germany, Hungary, Bohemia, Croatia, Dalmatia, 
Slavonia, Galizia, Lodomeria and Jerusalem ; Archduke of 
Austria, etc. 

Since the peace of Pressburg all our care and attention 
has been directed towards the scrupulous fulfillment of all 
engagements contracted by the said treaty, as well as the 
preservation .of peace so essential to the happiness of our 
subjects, and the strengthening in every way of the friendly 
relations which have been happily re-established. We could 
but await the outcome of events in order to determine wheth- 
er the important changes in the German Empire resulting 
from the terms of the peace would allow us to fulfill the 
weighty duties which, in view of the conditions of our elec- 
tion, devolve upon us as the head of the Empire. But the 
results of certain articles of the treaty of Pressburg, which 
showed themselves immediately after and since its publica- 
tion, as well as the events which, as is generally known, have 
taken place in the German Empire, have convinced us that it 
would be impossible under these circumstances farther to ful- 
fill the duties which we assumed by the conditions of our 
election. Even if the prompt readjustment of existing polit- 
ical complications might produce an alteration in the existing 
conditions, the convention signed at Paris, July 12th, and ap- 
proved later by the contracting parties, providing for the com- 
plete separation of several important states of the Empire 
and their union into a separate confederation, would entirely 
destroy any such hope. 

Thus, convinced of the utter impossibility of longef fulfill- 
ing the duties of our imperial office, we owe it to our prin- 
ciples and to our honor to renounce a crown which could only 
retain any value in our eyes so long as we were in a position 



404 The Peace of Tilsit 

to justify the confidence reposed in us by the electors, princes, 
estates and other members of the German Empire, and to 
fulfill the duties devolving upon us. 

We proclaim, accordingly, that we consider the ties which 
have hitherto united us to the body politic of the German 
Empire as hereby dissolved; that we regard the office and 
dignity of the imperial headship as extinguished by the for- 
mation of a separate union of the Rhenish states, and regard 
ourselves as thereby freed from all our obligations toward 
the German Empire ; herewith laying down the imperial crown 
which is associated with these obligations, and relinquishing 
the imperial government which we have hitherto conducted. 

We free at the same time the electors, princes and estates, 
and all others belonging to the Empire, particularly the 
members of the supreme imperial courts and other magis- 
trates of the Empire, from the duties constitutio'nally due to 
us as the lawful head of the Empire. Conversely, we free 
all our German provinces and imperial lands from all their 
obligations of whatever kind, towards the German Empire, 
in uniting these, as Emperor of Austria, with the whole 
body of the Austrian state we shall strive, with the restored 
and existing peaceful relations with all the powers and 
neighboring states, to raise them to the height of prosperity 
and happiness, which is our keenest desire, and aim of our 
constant and sincerest efforts. 

Done at our capital and royal residence, Vienna, August 
6, 1806, in the fifteenth year of our reign as Emperor and 
hereditary ruler of the Austrian lands. 

Francis. 



79. Documents upon the Peace of Tilsit. 



By tlift Peace of Tilsit France brolie up tlie fourtli coalition, 
leaving herself at peace save with England. The first three of 
these documents show the arrangements made at Tilsit as the 
basis for continental peace. Document D shows the manner m 
which Napoleon took advantage of various omissions and vague 
expressions in doeujnent C. Among the numerous features which 
call for notice are: (1) the character of the alliance made be- 
tween Russia and France ; (2) the recent changes in Europe ef- 
fected by Napoleon and sanctioned by these treaties: (3) the hu- 
miliation of Prussia through loss of territory, payment of indem- 
nity, the stipulations as to its army, etc, 

References. Fyffe, Modern Europe, I, 346-349 (Popular ed.. 



The Peace of Tilsit 405 

233-235) ; Cambricloe Modern History, IX, 291-293, 307 ; Fournler, 
Napoleon^ 383-390 ; Kose, Napoleon, II, 115-128 ; Sloane, Napoleon, 
III, Chs. v-vi; Lanfrey, Napoleon, III, 268-285; Fisher, Napoleon- 
ic Statesmanship, (jerinany, chs. v-vi; Lavisse and Ilambaud, His- 
toire generale, IX, 115-117 ; Jaures, Histoire socialiste, VI, 224- 
225. 

Maps. Droysen, Historischer Hand-Atlas, 48-49, 53 ; Lane- 
Poole, Historical Atlas of Modern Europe, XII. 

A. Treaty of Peace between France and Russia. July 
7, 1807. De Clercq, Traitcs, II, 207-213, XV, 141-142. 

His Majesty the Emperor of the French, King of Italy, 
Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine and His Majesty 
the Emperor of all the Russias, being prompted by an equal 
desire to put an end to the calamities of war. . 

I. There shall be, dating from the day of the exchange 
of the ratifications of the present treaty, perfect peace and 
amity between His Majesty the Emperor of the French, King 
of Italy, and His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias. 

4. His Majesty the Emperor Napoleon, out of regard for 
His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, and wishing to 
give a proof of his sincere desire to unite the two nations by 
the bonds of an unalterable confidence and friendship, con- 
sents to restore to His Majesty the King of Prussia, the ally 
of His .Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, all the con- 
quered countries, cities and territories denominated herein- 
after, to wit: . . . [The omitted passage is practically 
identical with article 2 of document C] 

5. The provinces which on the ist of January, 1772, made 
up part of the former Kingdom of Poland and which have 
since passed at different times under Prussian domination, 
with the exception of the countries that are named or de- 
signated in the preceding article and those specified in ar- 
ticle 9 hereinafter, shall be possessed in complete ownership 
and sovereignty by His Majesty the King of Saxony, un- 
der the title of the Duchy of Warsaw, and shall be governed 
by constitutions which, while assuring the liberties and 
privileges of the peoples of this duchy, are consistent with 
the tranquility of the neighboring states. 

6. The city of Dantzic, with a territory of two leagues 
radius from its circumference, shall be re-established in its 



4o6 The Peace of Tilsit 

independence, under the protection of His Majesty the King 
of Prussia and His Majesty the King of Saxony and shall be 
governed by the laws which governed it at the time when it 
ceased to govern itself. 

12. Their Serene Highnesses the dukes of Saxe-Coburg, 
Oldenburg, and Mechlinburg-Schwerin shall each be replaced 
in the complete and peaceable possession of his states ; but 
the ports of the duchies of Oldenburg and Mechlinburg shall 
continue to be occupied by French garrisons until the ex- 
change of the ratifications of the future definitive treaty of 
peace between France and England. 

^ 13. His Majesty the Emperor Napoleon accepts the 

mediation of His Majesty the Emperor of all the, Russias 
for the purpose of negotiating and concluding a definitive 
treaty of peace between France and England, upon the sup- 

i position that this mediation will also be accepted by Eng- 

land, one month after the exchange of the ratifications of 
the present treaty. 
■^ 14. On his side. His Majesty the Emperor of all the Rus- 

sias, wishing to prove how much he desires to establish the 
most intimate and enduring relations between the two em- 
pires, recognizes His Majesty the King of Naples, Joseph 
Napoleon, and His Majesty the King of Holland, Louis Na- 
poleon. 

15. His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias likewise 
recognizes the Confederation of the Rhine, the actual state of 
possession of each of the sovereigns who compose it, and the 
titles given to several of them, whether by the act of con- 
federation or by the subsequent treaties of accession. His 
said Majesty promises to recognize, upon the notifications 
which shall be made to him on the part of His Majesty the 
Emperor Napoleon, the sovereigns who shall subsequently 
become members of the confederation, in the capacity which 
shall be given them in the documents which shall bring about 
their entrance to it. 

17. The present treaty of peace and amity is declared com- 
mon to their Majesties the Kings of Naples and of Holland, 
and to the Confederated Sovereigns of the Rhine, allies of 
His Majesty the Emperor Napoleon. 



The Peace of Tilsit 407 

18. His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias also rec- 
ognizes His Imperial Highness, Prince Jerome Bonaparte, as 
King of Westphalia. 

19. The Kingdom of Westphalia shall be composed of the 
provinces on the left of the Elbe ceded by His Majesty the 
King of Prussia and of other states actually possessed by 
His Majesty the Emperor Napoleon. 

20. His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias promises 
to recognize the arrangement which, in consequence of article 
19 above and of the cessions of His Majesty the King of 
Prussia, shall be made by His Majesty the Emperor Napo- 
leon (which shall -be announced to His Majesty the Emperor 
of all the Russias) and the resulting state of possession for 
the sovereigns for whose profit it shall have been made. 

23. His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias accepts 
the mediation of His Majesty the Emperor of the French, 
King of Italy, for the purpose of negotiating and concluding 
a peace advantageous and honorable to the two empires [of 
Russia and Turkey]. The respective plenipotentiaries shall 
repair to the place which the interested parties shall have 
agreed upon in order to open and to pursue the negotiations. 

25. His Majesty the Emperor of the French, King of Italy, 
and His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias mutually 
guarantee the integrity of their possessions and those of the 
powers included in the present treaty of peace, such as they 
now are or shall be in consequence of the above stipulations, 

28. The ceremonial of the two courts of the Tuileries and 
of Saint Petersburg between themselves and with respect 
to the ambassadors, ministers and envoys whom they shall 
accredit to each other shall be established upon the pri'-niple 
of a perfect reciprocity and equality. 



Separate and Secret Articles. 

2. The Seven Islands shall be possessed in complete pro- 



4o8 The Peace of Tilsit 

prietorship and sovereignty by His Majesty the Emperor Na- 
poleon. 

4. His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias engages 
to recognize His Majesty the King of Naples Joseph Napo- 
leon, as King of Sicily as soon as King Ferdinand IV shall 
have an indemnity such as the Balearic islands or the island 
of Candia, or any other of like value. 

5. li, at the time of the future peace with England, Han- 
over should come to be united with the Kingdom of Westpha- 
lia, a territory formed from the countries ceded by His Ma- 
jesty the King of Prussia upon the left bank of the river 
Elbe, and having a population of from three to four hun- 
dred thousand souls, shall cease to make part of that king- 
dom and shall be retroceded to Prussia. 



B. Secret Treaty of Alliance between France and Russia, 
July 7, 1807. De Clercq, Traites, XV, 142-144. 

His Majesty the Emperor of the French, King of Italy, 
Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine, and His Maj- 
esty the Emperor of all the Russias, having particularly at 
heart to re-establish the general peace in Europe upon sub- 
stantial and, if it be possible, immovable foundations, have 
for that purpose resolved to conclude an offensive and de- 
fensive alliance. 

1. His Majesty the Emperor of the French, King of Italy, 
and His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, undertake 
to make common cause, whether by land or by sea, or indeed 
by land and by sea, in every war wdiich France or Russia 
may be under the necessity of undertaking ag'ainst any Euro- 
pean power. 

2. The occasion for the alliance occurring, and each 
time that it shall occur, the high contracting parties shall 
regulate, by a special convention, t]ie forces which each of 
them shall employ against the common enemy, and the 
points at which these forces shall act; but for the present 
they undertake to employ, if the circumstances require it, the 
totality of their land and sea forces. 



The Peace of Tilsit 409 

3. All the operations of the common wars shall be car- 
ried on in concert and neither of the contracting parties 
in any case shall treat for peace without the co-operation or 
consent of the other. 

4. If England does not accept the mediation of Russia 
or if having accepted it she does not by the first of Novem- 
ber next consent to conclude peace, recognizing therein that 
the flags of all the powers shall enjoy an equal and perfect 
independence upon the seas and restoring therein the con- 
quests made by it from France and its allies since the year 
eighteen hundred and five, when Russia made common cause 
with it, a note shall be sent to the cabinet, of St. James in 
the course of the said month of November by the ambassa- 
dor of His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias. This 
note, expressing the interest that his said Imperial Majesty 
takes in the tranquility of the world and the purpose which 
he has of employing all the forces of his empire to procure 
for humanity the blessings of peace, shall contain the positive 
and explicit declaration that, upon the refusal of England 
to conclude peace upon the aforesaid conditions. His Maj- 
esty the Emperor of all the Russias will make common cause 
with France, and, in case the cabinet of St James shall 
not have given upo.n the ist of December next a categorical 
and satisfactory reply, the ambassador of Russia shall re- 
ceive the contingent order to demand' his passports on the 
said day and to leave England at once. 

5. If the case provided for by the preceding article oc- 
curs, the high contracting parties shall act in concert and at 
the same moment summon the three courts of Copenhagen, 
Stockholm and Lisbon to close their ports to the English, to 
recall their ambassadors from London, and to declare war 
upon England. That one of the three courts which refuses 
this shall be treated as an enemy by the two high contracting 
parties, and, if Sweden refuses it, Denmark shall be con- 
strained to declare war upon it. 

6. The two high contracting parties shall likewise act 
in concert and shall urge with force upon the court of Vienna 
that it adopt the principles set forth in article four above, 
that it close its ports to the English, recall its ambassador 
from London and declare war on England. 

7. If, on the contrary, within the period specified above. 



410 



The Peace of Tilsit 



England makes peace upon the aforesaid conditions (and 
His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias shall employ 
all his influence to bring it about) Hanover shall be restored 
to the King of England in compensation for the French, 
Spanish and Dutch colonies. 

8. Likewise, if in consequence of the changes which have 
just occurred at Constantinople, the Porte should not accept 
the mediation of France, or if, after it has been accepted, it 
should happen that within the period of three months after 
the opening of the negotiations they have not led to a sat- 
isfactory result, France will make common cause with Rus- 
sia against the Ottoman Porte, and the two high contracting 
parties shall come to an agreement to remove all the provinces 
of the Ottoman Empire in Europe, the city of Constantinople 
and the Province of Roumalia excepted, from the yoke and 
the vexations of the Turks. 

9. The present treaty shall remain secret and shall not 
be made public nor communicated to any cabinet by one of 
the two contracting parties without the consent of the other. 
It shall be ratified and the ratifications thereof exchanged 
at Tilsit within the space of four days. 

Done at Tilsit, July 7, 1807 (June twenty-fifth, [Russian 
style]). 

C. Treaty of Peace between France and Prussia. July 9, 
1807. De Clercq, Traitcs, II, 217-223. 

His Majesty the Emperor of the French, King of Italy, 
Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine, and His Maj- 
esty the King of Prussia, being prompted by an equal desire 
to put an end to the calamities of war. 

1. There shall be, dating from the day of the exchange of 
the ratifications of the present treaty, perfect peace and 
amity between His Majesty the Emperor of the French, King 
of Italy, and His Majesty the King of Prussia. 

2. The portion of the Duchy of Magdeburg situated to 
the right of the Elbe; the Mark of Prignitz, the Unker- 
Mark, the middle and the new Mark of Brandenburg, with 
the exception of the Cotbuser-Kreis or circle of Cotbus in 
lov/er Lusace ; the duchy of Pomerania ; upper, lower ' and 
middle Silesia, with the county of Glatz ; the portion of the 



The Peace of Tilsit 411 

district of Netze situated to the north of the causeway run- 
ning from Driesen to Schneidemiihl and of a line running from 
Schneidemiihi to the Vistula at VValdau, following the limits 
of the circle of Bromberg ; Pommerellen ; the island of 
Nogat ; the countries to the right of Nogat and the Vistula, 
to the east of Old Prussia and the north of the circle of 
Kulm ; Ermeland ; and, lastly, the Kingdom of Prussia, 
such as it was on January i, 17.72, shall be restored to His 
Majesty the King of Prussia, with the places of Spandau, 
Stettin, Kiistrin, Glogau, Braslau, Schweidnitz, Neisse, Brieg, 
Kosel, and Glatz, and generally all the places, citadels, cha- 
teaux and strongholds of the countries denominated above, in 
the condition in which the said places, citadels, chateaux and 
strongholds now are. The cities and citadels of Graudenz, 
with the villages of Neudorf, Parschken and Swirkorzy, shall 
also be restored to. His Majesty the King of Prussia. 

3. His Majesty the King of Prussia recognizes His Maj- 
esty the King of Naples, Joseph Napoleon; and His Majesty 
the King of Holland, Louis Napoleon. 

4. His Majesty the King of Prussia likewise recognizes 
the Confederation of the Rhine, the actual state of possession 
of each of the sovereigns" who compose it, and the titles 
given to several of them, whether by the act of confeder- 
ation or by the subsequent treaties of accession. His Majesty 
promises to recognize the sovereigns who shall subsequently 
become members of the said confederation, in the capacit}'- 
which shall be given them by the documents which shall 
bring about their entrance to it. 

5. The present treaty of peace and amity is declared 
common to His Majesty the King of Naples, Joseph Napoleon, 
to His Majesty the King of Holland, and the Confederated 
Sovereigns of the Rhine, allies of His Majesty the Emperor 
Napoleon. 

6. His Majesty the King of Prussia Hkewise recognizes 
His Imperial Highness Prince Jerome Napoleon as King of 
Westphalia. 

7. His Majesty the King of Prussia cedes in complete 
ownership and sovereignty to the kings, grand dukes, duke 
or princes who shall be designated by His Majesty the Em- 
peror of the French, King of Italy, all the duchies, marquis- 
doms, principalities, counties, lordships and generally all 



412 The Peace of Tilsit 

the territories or parts of any territories, as well as all the 
domains and landed estates of every nature which His Said 
Majesty the King of Prussia possessed by any title whatsoever 
between the Rhine and the Elbe at the commencement of the 
present war. 

8. The Kingdom of Westphalia shall be composed of prov- 
inces ceded by His Majesty the King of Prussia and of other 
states actually possessed by His Majesty the Emperor Na- 
poleon. 

9. The disposition which shall be made by His Majesty 
the Emperor Napoleon of the countries designated in the two 
preceding articles and the state of possession resulting there- 
from to the sovereigns for whose profit it shall have been 
made, shall be recognized by His Majesty the King of Prus- 
sia, in the same manner as if it were already eiifected and were 
contained in the present treaty. 

10. His Majesty the King of Prussia, for himself, his heirs 
and successors, renounces all present or contingent right 
which he can have or lay claim to : ist. Upon all the terri- 
tories, without exception, situated between the Rhine and the 
Elbe other than those designated in article 7; 2d. Upon 
those of the possessions of His Majesty the King of Saxony 
and of the House of Anhalt which are upon the right of the 
Elbe; reciprocally, every present or contingent right and 
every claim of the states included between the Elbe and the 
Rhine upon the possessions of His Majesty the King of 
Prussia, as they shall be in consequence of the present treaty, 
are and shall remain forever extinguished. 

11. All agreements, conventions or treaties of alliance, 
open or secret, which may have been concluded between 
Prussia and any of the states situated to the left of the 
Elbe, and which the present war shall not have dissolved, 
shall remain without effect and shall be regarded as null 
and void. 

12. His Majesty the King of Prussia cedes in complete 
ownership and sovereignty to His Majesty the King of 
Saxony the Cotbuser-Kreis or Circle of Cotbus in lower 
Lusatia. 

13. His Majesty the King of Prussia renounces in per- 
petuity the possession of all the provinces which, having be- 
longed to the Kingdom of Poland subsequent to the ist of 



The Peace of Tilsit 413 

January, 1772, have passed at various times under the domi- 
nation of Prussia, with the exception of Ermeland and the 
countries situated to the v^^est of old Prussia, to the east of 
Pomerania and the new mark, to the north of the circle of 
Kulm and of a line running from the Vistula to Schneide- 
miihl through Waldau, following the limits of the circle of 
Bomberg and of the causeway running from Schneidemiihl 
to Drisen, which, with the city and citadel of Graudenz and 
the villages of Neudorf, Parschken, and Swierkorzy, shall 
continue to be possessed in complete ownership and sov- 
ereignty by His Majesty, the King of Prussia. 

14. His Majesty the King of Prussia likewise renounces 
in perpetuity the possession of Danzig. 

15. The provinces which His Majesty the King of Prussia 
renounces by article 13 above (with the exception of the 
territory specified in article 18 hereinafter) shall be possessed 
in complete ownership and sovereignty by His Majesty the 
King of Saxony, under the title of the Duchy of Warsaw, 
and shall be governed by constitutions which, while assur- 
ing the liberties and privileges of the peoples of this duchy, 
are consistent with the tranquility of the neighboring states. 

19. The city of Danzig, with a territory of two leagues 
radius around its circumference, shall be re-established in its 
independence, under the protec*-ion of His Majesty the King 
of Prussia and of His Majesty the King of Saxony and 
shall be governed by the laws which governed' it at the time 
when it ceased to govern itself. 

21. The city, port and territory of Danzig, shall be closed 
during the continuance of the present maritime war to the 
commerce and navigation of the English. 

2^. Until the day of the exchange of the ratifications of 
the future definitive treaty of peace between France and Eng- 
land, all the countries under the domination of His Majesty 
the King of Prussia, without exception, shall be closed to the 
navigation and commerce of the English. No shipment can 
be made from Prussian ports for the British islands, nor 
can any vessel coming from England or its colonies be re- 
ceived in the said ports. 



414 The Peace of Tilsit 

28. A convention shall immediately be made having for 
its object the regulation of everything relative to the method 
and the time of the restoration of the places which must 
be restored to His Majesty the King of Prussia, as well as 
the details in regard to the civil and military administration 
of the districts which must also be restored. 

Secret Articles. 

2. His Majesty the King of Prussia engages to make 
common cause with France against England, if, on the ist 
of December, England has not consented tO' conclude a peace 
upon conditions reciprocally honorable to the two nations 
and conformable to the true principles of maritime law ; in 
sucji case, there shall be a special convention made to regu- 
late the execution of the above stipulation. 



D. Treaty between France and Prussia. September 8, 
1808. De Clercq, Traitcs, II, 270-273. 

His Majesty the Emperor of the French, King of Italy, 
Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine and His Majesty 
the King of Prussia, wishing to remove the difficulties which 
have occured in the execution of the treaty of Tilsit, . 

I. The amount of the sums due from the Prussian states 
to the French 'army, as well for extraordinary contribution as 
for arrears of revenues, is fixed at 140 million francs ; and 
by means of the payment of the said sum, every claim of 
France upon Prussia, on the ground of war contributions, 
shall be extinguished. This sum of 140 millions shall be 
deposited within twenty days from the exchange of the rati- 
fications of the present treaty in the counting house of the 
receiver general of the army, to wit : half in ready money 
or in good and acceptable bills of exchange, payable at the 
rate of 6 millions per month dating from the day of the ex- 
change of the ratifications and the payment of which shall 
be guaranteed by the Prussian treasury. The other half 
[shall be] in land notes of privileged mortgage upon the 



The Peace of Tilsit 415 

royal domains, which shall be reimbursable within the space 
of from one year to eighteen months after the exchange of 
the ratifications of the present treaty. 

5. The states of His Majesty the King of Prussia shall 
be evacuated by the French troops within the interval of 
thirty to forty days after the exchange of the ratifications, or 
sooner if possible. 

6. The places of Glogau, Stettin and Custrin shall remain 
in the power of the French army until the entire discharge 
of the bills of exchange and the land notes given in pay- 
ment of the contribution mentioned in the first article. 

15. His Majesty the Emperor and King guarantees to His 
Majesty the King of Prussia the integrity of his territory, on 
condition that His Majesty the King of Prussia remains the 
faithful ally of France. 

16. His Majesty the King of Prussia recognizes as King 
of Spain and of the Indies His Majesty Joseph Napoleon, and 
as King of the Two Sicilies His Majesty Joachim Napoleon. 

Separate Articles. 

1. His Majesty the King of Prussia, wishmg to avoid 
everything which may give umbrage to France, makes engage- 
ment- to mantain for ten years, dating from January i, 1809, 
only the number of troops specified below, to wit : 

10 Regiments of infantry, forming at most an effec 

tive of 22,000 men. 

8 Regiments of cavalry or 32 squadrons forming at 

most an effective of 8,000 " ' 

A corps of artillerymen, miners and sappers, at most 

of 6,000 " 

Not included tlie guard of the king estimated, in- 
fantry and cavalry, at most 6,000 " 

Total 42,000 men. 

2. At the expiration of the ten years, His Majesty the 
King of Prussia shall re-enter into the common right and 
shall maintain the number of troops which shall seem to 
him suitable, according to circumstances. 

3. During these ten years there shall not be any extra- 
ordinary levy of militia or of citizen guards, nor any mus- 
tering that tends to augment the forces above specified. 



4i6 Suppression of the Tribunate 

5. In return for the guarantee stipulated in the treaty of 
this day, and as security of the alliance contracted with 
France, His Majesty the King of Prussia promises to make 
common cause with His Majesty the Emperor of the French 
if war comes to be declared between him and Austria, and 
in that case to place at his disposal a division of 16,000 men, 
infantry as well as cavalry and artillery. 

The present engagement shall continue for ten years. 
Nevertheless, the King of Prussia, not having been able yet 
to form his military establishment, shall not be held for any 
contingent during the present year, and shall be bound to 
furnish in the year 1809, if war should break out, which the 
present amicable relations between France and Austria in 
no wise give occasion to fear, only a contingent of 12,000 
men, infantry as well as cavalry. 



80. Senatus-Consultum for Suppressing the 
Tribunate. 

August 19, 1807. Duvergier, Lois, XVI, 151-152. 

Before its suppression by tliis document ttie Tribunate had been 
the forum for the discussion of legislative measures. Although 
its meetings were not public this discussion was displeasing to Na- 
poleon and lie dissolved it. in order "to simplify and perfect the 
institutions." The manner of its suppression and the substitute 
arrangement should be noted. 

References. Lanfrey, Nanoleon. Ill, 333-336 ; Lavisse and 
Rambaud, Histoire generale, IX, 228-229. 

1. For the future, counting from the end of the session 
which is about to open, the preliminary discussion of the 
laws which is carried on by the sections of the Tribunate 
shall be performed, during the continuance of each session, 
by three commissions of the Legislative Body, under the 
titles : 

The first, of commission of civil and criminal legislation; 
The second, of commission of internal administration; 
The third, of commission of the finances. 

2. Each of these commissions shall deliberate separately 
and without spectators ; they shall be composed of seven 
members selected by the Legislative Body through secret 



Suppression of the Tribunate 417 

ballot and a majority of the votes. The president shall be 
appointed by the Emperor, either from among the members 
of the commission or from among the other members of 
the Legislative Body. 

3. The form of the ballot shall be arranged in such a 
manner that there may be, as far as shall be possible, four 
juris consviltcs upon the commission of legislation. 

4. In case of disagreement of opinion between the sec- 
tion of the Council of State which shall have drawn up the 
project of law and the proper commission of the Legislative 
Body, both of them shall meet together in conference under 
the presidency of the archcbancellor of the Empire or the, 
archtreasurer, according to the nature of the matters to be 
examined. 

5. If the councillors of state and the members of the 
commission of the Legislative Body are of the same opinion, 
the president of the commission shall be heard, after the 
orator of the Council of State shall have set forth before the 
Legislative Body the reasons for the law. 

6. When the commission shall have decided against the 
project of law, all the members of ';he commission shall have 
power to set forth before the Legislative Body the reasons 
for their opinion. 

7. The members of the commission who shall have dis- 
cussed a project of law shall be admitted, as are the other 
members of the Legislative Body, to vote upon the project. 

8. When circumstances shall give occasion for the exam- 
ination of some project of particular importance, it shall be 
lawful for the Emperor, in the interval of two sessions, to 
summon the members of the Legislative Body necessary to 
form the commissions, who shall proceed immediately to the 
preliminary discussion of the project; these commissions shall 
be appointed for the next session. 

9. The members of the Tribunate who, by the terms of 
the act of the Conservative Senate dated 17 Fructidor, Year 
X ought to remain until in the Year XIX, and whose powers, 
by article 89 of the act of the constitutions of the Empire 
of 28 Floreal, Year XII, have been extended until in the 
Year XXI, corresponding to the year 1812 of the Gregorian 
calendar, shall enter the Legislative Body and shall make 



41 S Overthrow of the Spanish Monarchy 

part of that bod}^ until the date at which their functions 
would have ceased in the Tribunate. 

lo. For the future, nobody can be chosen a member of the 
Legislative Body unless he is at least fully forty years of 



81. Documents upon the Overthrow of the 
Spanish Monarchy. 



The first of these documents shows the manner in which Na- 
poleon secured the military position in Spain which enabled him 
to dictate terms to the Spanish Ijing and heir apparent. Docu- 
ment B shows the terms forced upon the Ijing. A similar agree- 
ment was also forced upon the heir apparent. In both documents 
B and C there is something shown in regard to the manner in 
which the transaction was effected and ofiicially justified. 

References. Fyffe, Modern Europe, I. 367-387 (Popular ed., 
247-261) ; Cambridge Modern History, IX, 301-304, 428-434; Four- 
nier, Napoleon, 425-436 : Rose, Napoleon, II, Ch. xxviii ; Sloane, 
Napoleon, UI, 95-119; Lanfrey, Napoleon, III. 299-314, 362-433; 
Hume, Modern Spain, 78-134 ; Henry Adams, History of the United 
States, IV, 115-125, 290-291, 297-303, 315-316 ; Lavisse and Ram- 
baud, Histoire qenerale, IX, 185-191, 200-208 ; Jaurfes, Histoire 
socialiste, VI, 340-350. 

A. Convention of Fontainebleau. October 27, 1807. De 
Clercq, Traitcs, II, 235-236. 

His Majesty -the Emperor of the French, King of Italy, 
etc., etc., etc., and His Majesty the King of Spain, desiring 
to regulate by a joint agreement the interests of the two 
states and to determine the future fate o6> Portugal, in a 
manner consistent with the policy of the two countries , . . . 

1. The provinces between the Minho and the Duero, with 
the city of Oporto, shall be given in full ownership and 
sovereignty to His Majesty the King of Etruria, under the 
title of King of Northern Lusitania. 

2. The Province of- Alemte and the Kingdom of Algarve 
shall be given in full ownership and sovereignty to the Prince 
of the Peace, to be enjoyed under the title of Prince of Al- 
garve. 

3. The provinces of Beira, Tras-os-Montes and Portu- 
guese Estremadura, shall remain in trust until the general 
peace, to be disposed of then according to circumstances. 



Overthrow of the Spanish Monarchy 419 

and according to what shall be agreed upon between the two 
high contracting parties. 

9. His Majesty the King of Etruria cedes in complete 
ownership and sovereignty the Kingdom of Etruria to His 
Majesty the Emperor of the French, King of Italy. 

11. His Majesty the Emperor of the French, King of 
Italy, guarantees to His Majesty the King of Spain the pos- 
session of his states on the continent of Europe situated to 
the south of the Pyrenees. 

12. His Majesty the Emperor of the French, King of 
Italy, agrees to recognize and to cause to be recognized His 
Majesty the King of Spain as Emperor of the Two Americas, 
when everything shall be prepared so that His Most Catholic 
Majesty can take that title, which shall be at the general 
peace or at the latest within three years. 

13. The two high contracting parties shall agree to make 
an equal partition of the islands, colonies and other beyond- 
the-sea possessions of Portugal. 

14. The present convention shall remain secret; it shall 
be ratified ^nd the ratifications thereof shall be exchanged 
at Madrid at the latest twenty days after the signing. 

B. Convention with Charles IV. May 5, 1808. De Clercq, 
Traites, II, 246-248. 

Napoleon, Emperor of the French, King of Italy, Protector 
of the Confederation of the Rhine, and Charles IV, King of 
Spain and the Indies, animated by an equal desire to prompt- 
ly put an end to the anarchy to which Spain is a prey and 
to save that valiant nation from the agitations of factions, 
wishing to spare it all the convulsions of civil and foreign 
war and to place it without disturbances in the only posi- 
tion which, under the extraordinary circumstances in which 
it finds itself, can preserve its integrity, guarantee it its 
colonies and enable it also to unite all its means with those 
of France in order to obtain a maritime peace, have resolved 
to unite all their efforts and to regulate in a special con- 
vention such precious interests . . . 

I. His Majesty King Charles having had in view dur- 
ing all his life only the welfare of his subjects, and rely- 



420 Overthrow of the Spanish Monarchy 

ing upon the principle that all the acts of a sovereign ought 
to be done only in order to attain that aim; able to be 
under the existing circumstances only a source of dissen- 
sions, all the more fatal since the factions have divided his 
own family, has resolved to cede, as he does cede by the 
present [convention], to His Majesty the Emperor Napo- 
leon all his right to the throne of Spain and the Indies, 
as to the only one who, at the point to which affairs there- 
in have arrived, can re-establish order; intending that the 
said cession shall take place only in order to cause his sub- 
jects to enjoy the two following conditions. 

2. 1st. The integrity of the kingdom shall be maintained; 
the prince whom the Emperor Napoleon shall decide that he 
ought to place upon the throne of Spain shall be independent, 
and the boundaries of Spain shall not suffer any alteration. 

2d. The catholic, apostolic and Roman religion shall be 
the only one in Spain ; there cannot be tolerated there any 
reformed religion and still less infidelity, according to the 
usage established today. 

[The omitted articles provide, infer alia, that the Spanish 
royal family shall have a refuge in France, a palace and 
grounds, a stipulated income and the enjoyment of their royal 
rank.] 

II. The present convention shall remain secret until the 
two high contracting parties shall see fit to make it known ; 
it shall be ratified, and the ratification thereof shall be ex- 
changed within eight days or as much sooner as shall be pos- 
sible. 

Done at Bayonne, May 5, 1808. 

C. Imperial Decree proclaiming Joseph Bonaparte King 
of Spain. June 6, 1808. M'oniteur, June 22, 1808. 

Napoleon, by the grace of God, Emperor of the French, 
King of Italy, Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine, 
to all those who shall see these presents, greeting. 

The Junta of State, the Council of Castile, the city of Ma- 
drid, etc., etc., having made known to us by addresses that 
the welfare of Spain requires that an end should be prompt- 
ly put to the interregnum, we have resolved to proclaim, as 



Erfurt Convention 421 

we do proclaim, by the present [proclamation], that our well- 
beloved brother Joseph Napoleon, at present King of Naples 
and Sicily, is King of Spain and the Indies. 

We guarantee to the King of Spain the integrity of his 
States, whether in Europe, Africa, Asia, or America. 

We enjoin upon the lieutenant general of the kingdom, the 
ministers, and the Council of Castile, to cause the present 
proclamation to be despatched and published ni the accus- 
tomed forms, in order that nobody can pretend grounds of 
ignorance of it. 

Given at our imperial palace at Bayonne, June 6, 1808. 

Signed, Napoleon. 

82. The Erfurt Convention. 

October 12, 1808. De Clercq, Traites, II, 284-286. 

This document should be studied in connection with No. 79. 
The Spanish rising against Napoleon for a time threatened to pro- 
duce a general movement against his domination. Napoleon, how- 
ever, induced the Czar to meet him at Erfurt, where a series of 
conferences led to the signing of this convention. The consolida- 
tion of the Franco-Russian alliance prevented the threatened gen- 
eral rising. Both the general character and the special terms of 
this alliance, as set forth in the document, merit careful atten- 
tion. 

References. Cambridge Modern History, IX. 314-321 ; Four- 
nier, Napoleon, 438-444 ; Rose, Napoleon, II, 164-170 ; Sloane, Na- 
poleon, III. 133-138 ; Lanfrey, Napoleon, III, 485-494 ; Lavisse 
and Rambaud, Histoire generate, IX, 135-147. 

His Majesty the Emperor of the French, King of Italy, 
Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine, and His Maj- 
esty the Emperor of all the Russias, wishing to cause the 
alliance which unites them to be more and more close and 
forever durable, and reserving to themselves to agree sub- 
sequently, li there is need, upon the new determinations to 
be taken and the new means of attack to be directed against 
England, their common enemy and the enemy of the con- 
tinent, have resolved to establish in a special convention the 
principles which they are determined to follow invariably in 
all their measures to obtain the re-establishment of peace. . . . 

I. His Majesty the Emperor of the French, King of Italy, 
etc., and His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias confirm 
and, in as far as there is need, renew the alliance concluded 



422 Erfurt Convention 

between them at Tilsit; binding themselves, not only not to 
make any separate peace with the common enemy, but in ad- 
dition not to enter into any negotiation with it, and not to 
listen to any of its proposals except by common consent. 

2. Thus resolved to remain inseparably united for peace 
as well as for war, the high contracting parties agree to ap- 
point plenipotentiaries to treat for peace with England and to 
send them for this purpose to the city of the continent which 
England shall designate. 

3. In all the course of the negotiation, if it occurs, the re- 
spective plenipotentiaries of the high contracting parties shall 
constantly act with the most perfect accord, and it shall not 
be permissible for either of them to support, ,nor even to re- 
ceive or approve contrary to the interests of the other con- 
tracting party any proposal or demand of the English pleni- 
potentiaries, which, taken by itself and favorable to the in- 
terests of England, may also present some advantage to one 
of the contracting parties. 

4. Tht basis of the treaty with England shall be the utl 
possidetis. 

5. The high contracting parties bind themselves to con- 
sider as an absolute condition of peace with England that 
she shall recognize Finland, Wallachia, and Moldavia as 
making part of the Empire of Russia. 

6. They agree to consider as an absolute condition of the 
peace that England shall recognize the .new order of tilings 
established by France in Spain. 

7. The high contracting parties agree not to receive from 
the side of the enemy during the continuance of the negotia- 
tions any proposal, offer or communication whatsoever, with- 
out immediately sharing it with the respective courts : and 
if the said proposals are made at the congress assembled for 
the peace, the respective plenipotentiaries shall be bound to 
communicate them. 

8. His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, in con- 
sequence of all the revolutions and changes which disturb 
the Ottoman Empire and which do not leave any possibility 
of giving, and in consequence any hope of obtaining, suffi- 
cient guarantees for the persons and goods of the inhabitants 
of Wallachia and Moldavia, having already carried the limits 
of his Empire to the Danube on that side and united Wal- 



Erfurt Convention 423 

lachia and Moldavia with his Empire, and being able only 
on that condition to recognize the integrity of the Ottoman 
Empire, the Emperor Napoleon recognizes the said union and 
the said limits of the Russian Empire, extended on that side 
to the Danube. 

9. His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias agrees to 
keep in the most profound secrecy the preceding article and 
to enter upon a negotiation, either at Constantinople or any- 
where else, in order to obtain amicably, if that be possible, 
the cession of these two provinces. France renounces its 
mediation. The plenipotentiaries or agents of the two powers 
shall agree upon the language to be held, in order not to com- 
promise the friendship existing between France and the 
Porte, as well as the security of the French who reside in 
the Turkish dominions in order to prevent the Porte throw- 
ing itself into the arms of England. 

10. In case the war should happen to be rekindled, the Ot- 
toman Porte refusing the cession of the two provinces, the 
Emperor Napoleon shall .not take any part therein and shall 
confine himself to the employment of his good offices with 
the Ottoman Porte ; but if it should happen that Austria or 
any other power should make common cause with the Otto- 
man Empire in the said war, His Majesty the Emperor Na- 
poleon shall immediately make common cause with Russia, 
being obliged to consider this case as one of those of the 
general alliance which unites the two empires. In case Aus- 
tria should engage in war against France, the Emperor of 
Russia agrees to declare himself against Austria and to 
make common cause with France, that case being likewise 
one of those to which the alliance that unites the two em- 
pires applies. 

11. The high contracting parties bind themselves, more- 
over, to maintain the integrity of the other possessions of 
the Ottoman Empire, not wishing to undertake themselves 
or suffer that there should be undertaken any enterprise 
against any part of that empire, unless they should be pre- 
viously inform.ed of it. 

12. If the measures taken by the two high contracting 
parties are unavailing, either because England evades the 
proposal which shall be made to it, or because the negotia- 
tions are broken off, their Imperial Majesties shall meet 



424 French Republic 

again within the space of one year, in order to agree upon 
the operations of the common war and upon the means to 
pursue it with all the forces and all the resources of the two 
empires. 

13. The two high contracting parties, wishing to recog- 
nize the loyalty and the perseverance with which the King 
of Denm.ark has supported the common cause, agree to pro- 
cure for him an indemnification for his sacrifices and to recog- 
nize the acquisitions which he shall have been in a position 
to make in the present war. 

14. The present convention shall be kept secret for at least 
the space of ten years. 



83. Decree upon the Term, French Republic. 

October 22, 1808. Duvergier, Lois, XVI, 312. 

The time and manner in which the idea of the Republic dis- 
appeared from French institutions is a matter of much importance 
for the comprehension of the method whereby Napoleon built up 
his power. This document serves to fix the date of its final dis- 
appearance ; something of the manner in which it was eliminated 
can be seen from an examination of Nos. 58, 66 E and 71. 

Refeebncb. Aulard, Revolution frangaise, 778-780. 

1. The monies which shall be coined dating from January 
I, 1809, shall bear for legend upon the reverse of the piece 
the words, French Empire, in lieu of those of French Re- 
public . 

2. Our Minister of Finance is charged with the execution 
of the present decree. 



84. Documents upon the Annexations of 1809- 
1810. 



In 1809-1810 Napoleon annexed to France a great deal of ter- 
ritory. All of it had for some time been dependent upon France. 
These documents show most of the territory taken, some of the 
reasons assigned for its annexation, something of the manner in 
which the former rulers were treated, and the kind of special ar- 
rangements made for the territory as part of France. 

References. Fyffe, Modern Europe, I, 436-441 (Popular ed., 
294-297) ; Oamhridge Modern History, IX, 195-196. 369-871, 374- 
375, 400-403 ; Fournier. Napoleon, 495-498, 506-511 ; Rose, Napoleon, 
II, 141-142, 195-198 ; Sloane, Napoleon, III, 201-204, 211-214 ; Lan- 



Annexations of 1809-1810 425 

frey, Napoleon, IV, 252-264, 278-303, 341-343 ; Lavisse and Ram- 
baud, Histoire generale, IX, 275-278, 766-767. 

As the Empire of Napoleon was at its lieiglit following these 
annexations, its territorial extent and the relationship of the va- 
rious parts may be profitably studied at this point. 

Maps. Droysen, Historischer Hand-Atlas, 58-59 ; Lane-Poole, 
Historical Atlas of Modern Europe, LIX ; Schrader, Atlas de geo- 
graphic historique, 43 ; Vidal-Lablache, Atlas general, 40-41. 

A. Imperial Decree for the Annexation of the Papal States. 
May 17, 1809. Correspondance de Napoleon I, XIX, 15-16. 
Translation, James Harvey Robinson, University of Pennsyl- 
vania Translations and Reprints. 

Napoleon, Emperor of the French, King of Italy, Protector 
of the Confederation of the Rhine, etc., in consideration of 
the fact that when Charlemagne, Emperor of the French and 
our august predecessor, granted several counties to the bish- 
ops of Rome he ceded these only as fiefs and for the good 
of his realm and Rome did not by reason of this cession cease 
to form a part of his empire; farther that since this asso- 
ciation of spiritual and temporal authority has been and still 
is a source of dissensions and has but too often led the pon- 
tiffs to employ the influence of the former to maintain the 
pretensions of the latter, and thus the spiritual concerns and 
heavenly interests which are unchanging have been conftised 
with terrestrial affairs which by their nature alter according 
to circumstances and the policy of the time; and since all 
our proposals for reconciling the security of our armies, the 
tranquility and the welfare of our people and the dignity and 
integrity of our Empire, with the temporal pretensions of the 
popes have failed, we have decreed and do decree what fol- 
lows : 

1. The Papal States are reunited to the French Empire. 

2. The city of Rome, so famous by reason of the great 
memories which cluster about it and as the first seat of 
Christianity, is proclaimed a free imperial city. The organi- 
zation of the government and administration of the said city 
shall be provided by a special statute. 

3. The remains of the structures erected by the Roroans 
shall be maintained and preserved at the expense of our treas- 
ury. 

4. The public debt shall become an imperial debt. 



426 Annexations of 1809-1810 

5. The lands and domains of the Pope shall be increased 
to a point where they shall produce an annual net revenue of 
two millions. 

6. The lands and domains of the Pope as well as his pal- 
aces shall be exempt from all taxes, jurisdiction or visita- 
tion, and shall enjoy special immunities. 

7. On the first of June of the present year a special con- 
sultus shall take possession of the Papal States in our name 
and shall make the necessary provisions in order that a con- 
stitutional system shall be organized and may be put in force 
on January first, 1810. 

Given at our Imperial Camp at Vienna, May 17th, i8og. 

Napoleon. 

B. Organic Senatus-Consultum for the Annexation of the 
Papal States. February 17, 1810. Duvergier, Lois, XVII, 27. 

Title I. Of the Union of the States of Rome with the 
Empire. 

1. The state of Rome is united with the French Empire 
and makes an integral part thereof. 

2. It shall form two departments, the department of Rome 
and the department of Trasimeno. 

3. The department of Rome shall have seven deputies in 
the Legislative Body ; the department of Trasimeno shall have 
four. 

5. There shall be a senatorship established for the depart- 
ments of Rome and Trasimeno. 

6. The city of Rome is the second city of the Empire. 
The mayor of Rome is present at the taking of the oath by 
the Emperor at his accession : he takes rank, along with the 
deputation of the city of Rome, on all occasions immediately 
after the mayors and deputations of the city of Paris. 

7. The prince imperial bears the title and receives the 
honors of King of Rome. 

8. There shall be at Rome a prince of the blood or a grand 
dignitary of the Empire, who shall hold the court of the Em- 
peror. 



Annexations o£ 1809-1810 427 

10. After having been crowned in the church of Notre 
Dame at Paris, the Emperors shall be crowned in the church 
of Saint Peter at Rome, before the tenth year of their reign. 

11. The city of Rome shall enjoy the special privileges and 
immunities which shall be determined by the Emperor Napo- 
leon. 

Title II. Of the Independence of the Imperial Throne of 
Every Authority upon Earth. 

12. Any foreign sovereignty is incompatible with the ex- 
ercise of any spiritual authority within the interior of the 
Empire. 

13. At the time of their elevation [to the papal dignity], 
the popes shall take oath never to do anything contrary to the 
four propositions of the Gallican church, decreed in the as- 
sembly of the clergy in 1682. 

14. The four propositions of the Gallican church are de- 
clared common to all the catholic churches of the Empire. 

Title III. Of the Temporal Position of the Popes. 

15. Palaces shall be prepared for the Pope in the differ.ent 
places of the Empire in which he may wish to reside. There 
snail be necessarily one at Paris and one at Rome. 

16. Two millions of revenue in rural estates, free from all 
taxation and situated in the different parts of the Empire, 
shall be assigned to the Pope. 

17. The expenses of the Sacred College and of the Propa- 
ganda are declared imperial [expenses]. 

C. Treaty with Holland. March 16, 1810. De Clercq, 
Traites, II, 328-330. 

His Majesty the Emperor of the French, King of Italy, 
Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine, Mediator of the 
Swiss Confederation, and His Majesty the King of Holland, 
wishing to put an end to the diiificulties which have arisen be- 
tween them and to reconcile the independence of Holland 
with the new circumstances in which the orders in council 
of England of 1807 have placed all the maritime powers, have 



428 Annexations of 1809-1810 

agreed to come to an understanding, and have appointed pleni- 
potentiaries for that purpose, to wit: 

1. Until the British government has formally renounced 
the methods comprised in its orders in council of 1807, all 
commerce whatsoever between the ports of Holland and the 
ports of England is forbidden. If there is occasion to give li- 
censes, those given in the name of the Emperor shall be the 
only valid ones. 

2. A body of troops consisting of i8,coo men, of which 
3,000 shall be cavalry, composed of 6,000 Frenchmen and 
12,000 Hollanders, shall be placed at all the mouths of th^ 
rivers with the employes of the French customs-houses, in 
order to watch over the execution of the preceding article. 

3. These troops shall be taken care of, fed and clothed 
by the government of Holland. 

4. Every prize taken upon the coasts of Holland by French 
ships of war or privateers from vessels contravening article 
I shall be declared good prize ; in case of doubt the difficulty 
can be adjudged only by His Majesty the Emperor. 

5. The provisions contained in the above articles shall be 
annulled as soon as England shall have solemnly revoked its 
orders in council of 1807, and from that moment the French 
troops shall evacuate Holland and shall leave it to enjoy the 
whole of its independence. 

6. It being a constitutional principle in France that the 
thalweg of the Rhine is the boundary of the French Empire, 
and the ship yards of Antwerp, being unguarded and exposed 
through the existing situation of the boundaries of the two 
States, His Majesty the King of Holland cedes to His Maj- 
esty the Emperor of the French, etc., Dutch Brabant, the 
whole of Zeeland, including therein the island of Schouweu. 
and part of Gelderland upon the left bank of the Waal, in 
such a manner that the boundary of France and of Holland 
shall be henceforth the thalweg of the Waal, . . . 

8. His Majesty the King of Holland, in order to co-oper- 
ate with the forces of the French Empire, shall have at an- 
chor a fleet of 9 ships of the line and 6 frigates, armed and 
provisioned for six months and ready to put sail on July ist 
next, and a flotilla of 100 gunboats or other ships of war. 



Annexations of 1809-1810 429 

This force shall be kept up and made constantly disposable 
during the entire war. 

10. All merchandise arriving upon American vessels en- 
tered into the ports of Holland since January i, 1809, shall 
be placed in sequestration and shall belong to France to be 
disposed of according to circumstances and its political re- 
lations with the United States. 

11. All merchandise of English manufacture is prohibited 
in Holland. 

12. Police measures shall be taken to look after and to 
cause the arrest of insurers of contraband, contrabandists, 
their abettors, etc. ; finally, the government of Holland agrees 
that it will destroy contraband. 

15. Filled with confidence as to the manner in which 
the engagements resulting from the present treaty will be 
fulfilled, His Majesty the Emperor and King guarantees the 
integrity of the possessions of Holland as they shall be in 
virtue of this treaty. 

16. The present treaty shall be ratified and the ratifications 
thereof shall be exchanged at Paris within the space of fif- 
teen days or sooner if it is possible to do so. 

Done at Paris, March 16, 1810. 

D. Organic Senatus-Consultum for the Annexation of 
Holland and North Germany, December 13th, 1810. Duvergier, 
Lois, XVn, 235. 

1. Holland, the Hanseatic cities, Lauenburg, and the coun- 
tries situated between the North Sea and a line drawn from 
the confluence of the Lippe with the Rhine to Haltern, from 
Haltern to the Ems below Telgte ; from the Ems to the con- 
fluence of the Werre with the Weser, and from Stozenau 
upon the Weser to the Elbe below the confluence of the Steck- 
enitz, shall make an integral part of the French Empire. 

2. The said countries shall form ten departments to wit : 

3. The number of deputies of these departments in the 
Legislative Body shall be . . . [29 in all]. 



430 Treaty of Vienna 

8. One senatorship shall be established for the depart- 
ments forming the jurisdiction of the imperial court of the 
Hague, and another for the departments forming the juris- 
diction of the imperial court of Hamburg. 

9. The cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Bre- 
men, and Lubeck, are included among the good cities of 
which the mayors are present at the taking of the oath of 
the Emperor at his accession. 



85. Treaty of Vienna. 

October 14, 1809. De Clercq, Traites, II, 293-299. 

This treaty came at the end of the fourth war which Austria 
had fought against France since the beginning of the revolution. 
Its terms should be compared with those of the three preceding 
treaties, Campo Formio. Luneville and Pressburg (Nos. 55,62,74). 

References. Fyffe, Modern Europe, I, 430-433 (Popular ed., 
289-292) ; Cambridge Modern History, IX, 359-360 ; Fournier, 2Vajjo- 
leon, 477-482 ; Lanfrey, Napoleon, IV, 213-224 ; Sloane, Napoleon, 
III, 182-185 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire generale, IX, 176-177. 

Map. Schrader, Atlas de peograpMe historique, 48. 

His Majesty the Emperor of the French, King of Italy, 
Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine, Mediator of the 
Swiss Confederation, and His Majesty the Emperor of Aus- 
tria, King of Hungary and of Bohemia, equally prompted by 
the desire to put an end to the war that has been kindled be- 
tween them, have resolved to proceed without delay to the 
conclusion of a definitive treaty of peace, . . . 

I. There shall be, dating from the day of the exchange of 
the ratifications of the present treaty, peace and amity be- 
tween His Majesty the Emperor of the French, King of Italy, 
Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine, and His Maj-- 
esty the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and of Bohe- 
mia, their heirs and successors^ their respective States and 
subjects, forever. 

3. His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary 
and of Bohemia, both for himself, his heirs and successors, 
and for the princes of his house, their respective heirs and 
successors, renounces the principalities, lordships, domains and 



Treaty of Vienna 431 

territories hereinafter designated, as well as every title what- 
soever which may be derived from their possession, and the 
properties, whether domanial or possessed by them under per- 
sonal title, which these countries include. 

1st. He cedes and abandons to His Majesty the Emperor 
of the French, in order to make part of the Confederation of 
the Rhine and to be disposed of in favor of the sovereigns 
of the confederation : the countries of Salzburg and Berecht- 
esgaden, the portion of Upper Austria situated beyond a line 
setting out from the Danube near the village of Strass and 
taking in Weissenkirchen, Wiedersdorf, Michelbach, Greist, 
Muckenho'ffen, Helft, Jeding, from there the road to Schwan- 
enstadt, the city of Schwanenstadt upon the Kammer, and in 
continuation reascending the course of that river and of the 
lake of that name to the point at which that lake touches 
the frontier of the country of Salzburg. . . . 

2d. He likewise cedes to His Majesty the Emperor of the 
French, King of Italy, the County of Gorz, the territory of 
Montefalcone, the Government of the city of Trieste, Carni- 
ola with its enclaves upon the gulf of Trieste, the circle of 
Vilach in Carinthia, and all the countries situated to the right 
of the Save, in setting out from the point at which that river 
leaves Carniola and following it to the frontier of Bosnia, to 
wit : part of provincial Croatia, six districts of military 
Croatia, Fiume and the Hungarian littoral, the Austrian Is- 
tria or district of Kitsten, the dependent islands of these ceded 
countries and all the other countries under whatsoever de- 
nomination upon the right bank of the Save, the thalweg of 
that river serving as boundary between the two States ; lastly, 
the lordship of Razuns, enclave within the country of the 
Grisons. 

3d. He cedes and abandons to His Majesty the King of 
Saxony the enclaves dependent upon Bohemia and included 
within the territory of the Kingdom of Saxony, to wit : . . 

4th. He cedes and abandons to His Majesty the King of 
Saxony, in order to be united to the Duchy of Warsaw, all 
eastern or new Galicia, a district about Cracow upon the right 
bank of the Vistula, which shall be determined hereafter, and 
the circle of Zamoste in eastern Galicia. 

5th. He cedes and abandons to His Majesty the Emperor 



432 Treaty of Vienna 

of Russia, in the most eastern part of former Galicia, a terri- 
tory comprising four hundred thousand souls of population, 
in which the city of Brody shall be included. This territory 
shall be determined by agreement between commissioners of 
the two Empires. 

14. His Majesty the Emperor of the French, King of Italy, 
Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine, guarantees the 
integrity of the possessions of His Majesty the Emperor of 
Austria, King of Hungary and of Bohemia, in the state in 
which they are according to the present 'treaty. 

15. His Majesty the Emperor of Austria recognizes all the 
changes which have occurred or which may occur in Spain, 
in Portugal, and in Italy. 

16. His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, wishing to con- 
tribute to the return of maritime peace, adheres to the pro- 
hibitive system adopted by France and Russia in opposition 
to England for the present maritime war. His Imperial Maj- 
esty will cause all relations with Great Britain to cease and 
will put himself, as regards the English Government, in the 
position in which he was before the present war. 

Separate Article. 

1. In virtue of the authorisation given by His Majesty 
the Emperor of Russia, the treaty of peace of this day is 
declared to be common to Russia, the ally of France. 

2. His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, in consequence 
of the diminution of his possessions and being anxious to re- 
move everything which might give birth to vmeasiness and 
distrust between the two states, as well as to manifest his po- 
litical intentions, binds himself to reduce the rolls of his 
troops in such a manner that the total number of the troops 
of all arms and of every sort shall not rise above 150,000 rtien 
during the continuance of the maritime war. 

5. His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary 
and of Bohemia, shall discharge in coin that which remains 
to be paid of the two hundred millions of contributions im- 
posed upon the different states occupied by the French ar- 
mies, whether in bank notes or in metallic value. In order to 



Printing and Bookselling Law 433 

facilitate the payment of this sum, His Majesty the Em- 
peror of the French consents to reduce it to 85,000,000 
francs. . . . 



86. Decree upon Printing and Bookselling. 

February 5, 1810. Dnvergier, Lois, XVII, 19-23. 

This law is a sort of organic act upon ttie press. It co-ordi- 
nates and consolidaies a number of earlier measures in restraint 
of freedom of printing. Tlie system delineated in the document 
had existed, substantially as here shown, from about 1804. 

liEFEUENCES. Dickinson, Revolution and Reaction in Modern 
France, 40-48; Lanfrey, Aapoleon, IV, 316-326. 

Title I. Of the Directorship of Printing and Bookselling. 

I. Tl-i^re shall be a director general charged, under the 
orders of our itiinister of the interior, with everything -t-hat- 
relates to printing and bookselling. 



Title II. Of the Occupation of Printer. 

3. Dating from January i, 181 1, the number of printers 
in each department shall be fixed and that of the printers of 
Paris shall be reduced to sixty. 

5. The printers shall be commissioned and sworn. 

6. At Paris they shall be required to have four presses, 
in the departments two. 

9. The commission of printer shall be given by our director 
general of printing, and shall be subject to the approval of 
our minister of the Interior ; it shall be registered at the civil 
tribunal of the place of residence of the grantee, who shall 
there take oath not to print anything which is contrary to the 
duties towards the sovereign and the interest of the state. 

Title III. Of the Police for Printing. 

Section i. Of the guarantee for the administration. 



434 Printing and Bookselling Law 

10. Printing or causing to be printed anything which may 
involve injury to the duties of subjects towards the sovereign 
or the interests of the state is forbidden. . . . 

11. Each printer shall be required to have a book num- 
bered and lettered by the prefect of the department, in which 
he shall register, by order of dates, the title of each work 
which he shall wish to print, and the name of the author, if 
it is known. This bcok shall be presented at every requisi- 
tion, and examined and endorsed, if it is thought desirable, 
by any officer of police. 

12. The printer shall immediately deliver or address to the 
director general of printing and bookselling, and also to the- 
prefects, a copy of the transcript made upon his book ; and 
the declaration that he has an intention of printing the work ; 
he shall be given a receipt therefor. 

The prefects shall give information of each of these dec- 
larations to our minister of the general police. 

13. The director general can order, if it seems good to 
him, the communication and examination of the work, and 
can suspend the printing. 

14. When the director general shall have suspended the 
printing of a work, he shall send it to a censor chosen from 
among these whom we, upon the advice of the director gen- 
eral and the proposal of our minister of the interior, shall 
have appointed to discharge that function. 

15. Our minister of the general police, and the prefects in 
their departments, shall cause to be suspended the printing 
of all works which shall appear to them to be in contraven- 
tion to article 10: in that case, the manuscript shall be sent 
within twenty-four hours to the director general, as is said 
above. 

16. Upon the report of the censor, the director general 
shall indicate to the author the changfes or suppressions deemed 
appropriate, and, upon his refusal to make them, shall forbid 
the sale of the work, shall cause the forms to be broken, and 
shall seize the sheets or copies already printed. 



Title IV. Of Booksellers. 

29. Dating from January i, 1811, booksellers shall be 
commissioned and sworn. 



The Frankfort Declaration 435 

30. The commissions for booksellers shall be given by our 
director general of printing, and shall be subject to the ap- 
proval of our minister of the interior. They shall be registered 
at the civil tribunal of the place of residence of the grantee, 
who shall there take oath not to sell, circulate or distribute 
any v\rork contrary to the duties towards the sovereign and 
the interest of the state. 

33. For the future, commissions shall not be granted to 
booksellers who shall wish to establish themselves, except 
after they shall have furnished proof of their good life and 
morals and of their attachment to the fatherland and the sov- 
ereign. 

Title V. Of Books Printed Abroad. 

34. No book in the French or Latin languages printed 
abroad shall enter France without paying import duty. 

35. This duty shall not be less than fifty per cent, of the 
value of the work. 

36. Independently of the provisions of article 34. no book 
printed or reprinted outside of France can be introduced into 
France without a permit from the director general of book- 
selling designating the custom house at which it shall enter. 



87. The Frankfort Declaration. 



December 1, 1S13. British and Foreign State Papers, I, 911. 

This manifesto of the allied powers was issued Just as their 
armies were about to enter France. Its purpose, as shown by 
various expressions in the document, should be noticed. Its 
phraseology upon such points as the future of France and its 
boundaries also requires attention. The latter may be compared 
with that of the first draft as quoted by Fournier. 

References. Fournier, Napoleon, 648-650 : Rose, Napoleon, 
II, 346-347 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Ilistoire generale, IX, 848- 
849 ; Sorel, L'Ewope et la revolution frangaise, VIII, 224-224. 

The French government has just ordered a new levy of 
300,000 conscripts. The reasons of the senatus-consultum con- 
tain a provocation to the allied powers. They find themselves 



436 The Frankfort Declaration 

again called upon to promulgate in the face of the world the 
views which govern them> in the present war, the principles 
which constitute the basis of their conduct, their views and 
their determinations. 

The allied powers are not at war with France, but with 
that haughtily announced preponderance, that preponderance 
which, to the misfortune of Europe and of France, the Em- 
peror Napoleon has for too long a time exercised outside of 
the boundaries of his empire. 

Victory has led the allied armies to the Rhine. The first 
use which their Imperial and Royal Majesties have made of 
victory has been to offer peace to His Majesty the Emperor 
of thu French. An attitude reinforced by the accession of all 
the sovereigns and princes of Germany has not had any influ- 
ence upon the conditions of peace. These conditions are 
founded upon the independence of the French Empire, as 
well as upon the independence of the other states of Europe. 
The views of the powers are just in their object, generous 
and liberal in their application, reassuring for all, and hon- 
orable for each. 

The allied sovereigns desire that France should be great, 
strong and happy, because the great and strong French power 
is one of the fundamental bases of the social edifice. They 
desire that France should be happy, that French commerce 
should rise again, and that the arts, those blessings of peace, 
should flourish again, because a great people cannot be tran- 
quil except in as far as it is happy. The powers confirm to 
the French Empire an extent of territory which France never 
knew under its kings, because a valiant nation should not lose 
rank for having in its turn experienced reverse in an obsti- 
nate and bloody conflict, in which it has fought with its usual 
daring. 

But the powers also wish to be free, happy and tranquil. 
They desire a state of peace which, by a wise distribution of 
power and a just equilibrium, may preserve henceforth their 
peoples from the innumerable calamities which for the past 
twenty years have weighed upon Europe. 

The allied powers will not lay aside their arms without 
having attained that great and beneficent result, that noble 
object of their efforts. They will not lay aside their arms 
until the political condition of Europe shall be again consol- 



Address of the Legislative Body 437 

idated, until immutable principles shall have resumed their 
rights over vain pretensions, until the sanctity of treaties shall 
have finally assured a real peace for Europe. 
Frankfort, December i, 1813. 



88. Address of the Legislative Body to 
Napoleon. 

Decen-'.ber 28. 3 813. Buchez and Roux, Histoire parlemen- 
taire, XXXiX, 456-45S. 

This address was drawn up after Napoleon had submitted to 
the Legislative Body a portion of his correspondence with the al- 
lies. Napoleon diss'olved the chamber and forbade the publication 
of the address. • The document throws some light upon the state 
of France, its attitude towards Napoleon and the war. 

Refeeencp.s. Fournier, Napoleon, 650-652 ; Sloane, Napoleon, 
TV, 85-86; Rose, Napoleon, II, 347-348; Lavisse and Rambaud, 
Histoire gcnerale, IX, 849-853 ; Sorel, L'Europe et la revolution 
francoise, VIII, 226-228. 

We have examined with a scrupulous attention the official 
documents which the Emperor has deigned to place before 
our eyes. We consider ourselves then as the representatives 
of the nation itself, speaking with open hearts to a father who 
hears us with benevolence. Filled with that sentiment, so 
adapted to the elevation of our souls and to disengaging us 
from every personal consideration, we have dared to bring 
the truth to the foot of the throne ; our august sovereign 
could not suffer any other language. 

[The omitted passage reviews the course of events from 
the outbreak of the war with Russia to the end of the cam- 
paign of 1813.] 

Here, gentlemen, we must avow it, the enemy carried along 
by victory to the banks of the Rhine has offered to our au- 
gust monarch a peace which a hero accustomed to so much 
success must have found strange indeed. But if a manly and 
heroic sentiment dictated to him a refusal before the deplor- 
able state of France had been ascertained, that refusal cannot 
be reiterated without imprudence when the enemy is already 
breaking the frontiers of our territory. If the matter here in 
question had been the discussion of disgraceful conditions, 
His Majesty would have deigned to reply only by making 



438 Address of the Legislative Body 

known to his people the projects of the foreigners; there is 
no wish, however, to humihate us, but to confine us within 
our hmits and to repress the soaring of an ambitious activity 
so fatal for twenty years past to all the peoples of Europe. 

Such proposals seem to us honorable for the nation, since 
they prove that the foreigner fears and respects us. It is 
not he who sets limits to our power, it is the terrified world 
which invokes the common right of nations. The Pyrenees., 
the Alps and the Rhine enclose a vast territory of which sev- 
eral provinces were not held by the Empire of the Lilies, and 
yet the royal crown of France was radiant with glory and 
majesty among all the diadems. 

Furthermore, the protectorate of the Rhine ceases to be a 
title of honor for a crown, from the moment when the peo- 
ples of that confederation disdain that protection. 

It is obvious that here there is no question of a right of 
conquest, but of a title of alliance useful only to the Germans. 
A powerful hand was assuring them of its assistance ; they 
wish to slip away from that benefaction as from' an insup- 
portable burden ; it is consistent with the dignity of His 
Majesty to abandon to themselves those peoples who are has- 
tening to range themselves under the yoke of Austria. As 
for Brabant, since the allies propose to adhere to the bases 
of the treaty of Luneville, it seems to us that France could 
sacrifice without loss provinces difficult to retain, in which 
the English spirit dominates almost exclusively, and for which, 
finally, commerce with England is a necessity so indispen- 
sable that these districts have been languishing and impover- 
ished as long as our dominion has lasted. Have we not 
seen patrician families exiling themselves from Dutch soil, 
as if devastating scourges had pursued them, and taking to 
the enemy the wealth and industry of their fatherland. Doubt- 
less it does not take courage to make the heart of our sov- 
ereign hear the truth ; but we should be bound to expose 
ourselves to all perils, we should prefer to mcur disgrace 
from him rather than to betray his confidence, and to expose 
our lives rather than the safety of the nation which we rep- 
resent. 

Let us not dissemble : our ills are at their height ; the father- 
land is threatened at all points upon its frontiers ; commerce 
is annihilated, agriculture languishes, industry is expiring; 



V\ 



Treaty of Chaumont 439 

and there is not a Frenchman who has not in his family or 
his fortune a cruel wound to heal. Let us not be weighed 
down by these facts; the agriculturist has not prospered for 
five years past; he barely lives, and the fruits of his la- 
bors serve to augment the treasure which is annually ex- 
hausted in the supplies which the constantly ruined and fam- 
ished armies demand. The conscription has become for all 
France an odious scourge, because that measure has always 
been overdone in execution. For the past two years the 
gathering in has occurred three times per year ; a barbarous 
and aimless war has swallowed up youths torn away from 
education, agriculture, commerce and the arts. Are the tears 
of mothers and the pains of the people then the patrimony of 
kings? It is time that the nations should be in repose; it is 
time that the powers should cease clashing and tearing each 
others entrails ; it is time that the thrones should be strength- 
ened and that France should cease to be reproached with wish- 
ing to carry into all the world revolutionary torches. Our 
august monarch, who shares the zeal that animates us and 
who is burning to consolidate the welfare of his peoples, is 
the only one capable of performing that great work. Love 
of military honor and of conquests may seduce a magnani- 
mous heart; but the genius of a true hero, who spurns a 
glory achieved at the expense of the blood and repose of the 
people, finds his true ' grandeur in the public felicity which 
is his work. French monarchs have always gloried in hold- 
ing their crown from God, the people and their sword, be- 
cause peace, morality and power are, with liberty, the firmest 
support of empires. 



89. Treaty of Chaumont. 



March 1, 1814. De Clercq, Trnites, II, 395-399 ; XV, 144-145. 
Translation based upon Hertslet, Map of Europe iy Treaty, 2043- 
2048. 

This treaty in terms includes only Austria and Russia, but 
Great Britain and Prussia were included in similar treaties 
formed at the same time. Although dated March 1 the treaty 
was not actually signed until March 9. The terms alluded to in 
article 1 were those offered to Napoleon at the Congress of Ch9- 
tillon. As the most comprehensive and typical of the series of 
treaties which created and controlled the alliance against France 
the terms of this document should be carefully noted. 



440 Treaty of Chaumont 

Rf.fep.kncics. Fournier, Napoleon, 665-666 ; Rose, Napoleon, 
II, 370-371 ; Sorel, L'Europe et la revolution frangaise, Vlll, 289- 
291. 

His Imperial Majesty and Royal Highness the Emperor of 
Austria, King of Hungary and of Bohemia, His Majesty the 
Emperor of all the Russias, His Majesty the King of the 
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. His Majesty 
the King of Prussia, having forwarded to the French govern- 
ment proposals for the conclusion of a general peace, and 
desiring, in case France should refuse the conditions of that 
peace, to draw closer the bonds which unite them for the 
vigorous prosecution of a war undertaken with the salutary 
purpose of putting an end to the misfortunes of Europe by 
assuring future repose through the re-establishment of a just 
equilibrium of the powers, and wishing at the same time, if 
Providence blesses their pacific intentions, to settle the meth- 
ods of maintaining against every attack the order of things 
which shall have been the happy result of their efforts, have 
agreed to sanction by a solemn treaty, signed separately by 
each of the four powers with the other three, this double 
engagement. 

1. The high contracting parties above named solemnly 
engage by the present treaty, and in the event of France re- 
fusing to accede to the conditions of peace now proposed, to 
apply all the means of their respective states to the vigorous 
prosecution of the war against that power, and to employ 
them in perfect concert, in order to obtain for themselves and 
for Europe a general peace, under the protection of which the 
rights and liberties of all nations shall be established and se- 
cured. 

This engagement shall in no respect affect the stipulations 
which the several powers have already contracted relative to 
the number of troops to be kept against the enemy ; and it 
is understood that the courts of England, Austria, Russia, 
and Prussia engage by the present treaty to keep in the field, 
each of them, 150,000 effective men, exclusiVe of garrisons, 
to be employed in active service against the common enemy. 

2. The high contracting parties reciprocally engage not 
to treat separately with the common enemy, nor to sign peace, 
truce, nor convention, but with common consent. They, more- 



Treaty of Chaumont 441 

over, engage not to lay down their arms until the object of 
the war, mutually understood and agreed upon, shall have 
been attained. 

3. In order to contribute in the most prompt and decisive 
manner to fulfill this great object, His Britannic Majesty en- 
gages to furnish a subsidy of £5,000,000 for the service of the 
year 1814, to be divided in equal proportions amongst the 
three powers; and his said Majesty promises, moreover, to 
arrange before the ist of January in each year, with their Im- 
perial and Royal Majesties, the further succours to be fur- 
nished during the subsequent year, if (which God forbid) the 
war should so long continue. 

•5. The high contracting parties, reserving to themselves 
to concert together, on the conclusion of a peace with France, 
as to the means best adapted to guarantee to Europe, and to 
tnemselves, reciprocally, the continuance of the peace, have 
also determined to enter without delay into defensive en- 
gagements for the protection of their respective states in Eu- 
rope against every attempt which France might make to in- 
fringe the order of things resulting from such pacification. 

6. To effect this, they agree that in the event of one of 
the high contracting parties being threatened with an attack 
on the part of France, the others shall employ their most 
strenuous efforts to prevent it, by friendly interposition. 

7. In case of these endeavours proving ineffectual, the high 
contracting parties promise to come to the immediate assist- 
ance of the power attacked, each with a body of 60.000 men. 

9. As the situation of the seat of war, or other circum- 
stances, might render it difficult for Great Britain to furnish 
the stipulated succours in English troops within the term pre- 
scribed, and to maintain the same on a war establishment, His 
Britannic Majesty reserves the right of furnishing his con- 
tingent to the requiring power in foreign troops in his pay, 
or to pay annually to that power a sum of money, at the rate 
of £20 per man for infantry, and of £30 for cavalry, until 
the stipulated succour shall be complete. 

13. The high contracting parties mutually promise, that 
in case they shall be reciprocally engaged in hostilities, in con- 



442 Treaty of Chaumont 

sequence of furnishing the stipulated succours, the party re- 
quiring and the parties called upon, and acting as auxiliaries 
in the war, shall not make peace but by common consent. 

15. In order to render more effectual the defensive en- 
gagements above stipulated, by uniting for their common de- 
fence the powers the most exposed to a French invasion, the 
high contracting parties engage to invite those powers to 
accede to the present treaty of defensive alliance 

16. The present treaty of defensive alliance having for its 
object to maintain the equilibrium of Europe, to secure the 
repose and independence of its states, and tO prevent the 
invasions which during so many j^ears have desolated the 
world, the high contracting parties have agreed to extend 
the duration of it to twenty years, to take date from the day 
of its signature ; and they reserve to themselves to concert 
upon its ulterior prolongation three years before its expira- 
tion, should circumstances require it. 

Secret Articles. 

1. The re-establishment of an equilibrium of the powers 
and a just distribution of forces among them being the aim 
of the present war, their Imperial and Royal Majesties obli- 
gate themselves to direct their efforts toward the actual es- 
tablishment of the following system in Europe, to wit : 

Germany composed of sovereign princes united by a fed- 
erative bond which assures and guarantees the independence 
of Germany. 

The Swiss Confederation in its former limits and in an 
independence placed under the guarantee of the great powers 
of Europe, France included. 

Italy divided into independent states, intermediaries between 
the Austrian possessions in Italy and France. 

Spain governed by King Ferdinand VII in its former lim- 
its. 

Holland, free and independent state, under the sovereignty 
of the Prince of Orange, with an increase of territory and the 
establishment of a suitable frontier. 

2. The high confederated parties agree, in execution of ar- 
ticle 15 of the open treaty, to invite the accession to the pres- 



Transition to Restoration Monarchy 443 

ent treaty of defensive alliance of the monarchies of Spain, 
Portugal, Sweden, and His Royal Highness the Prince of 
Orange, and to admit to it likewise other sovereigns and 
states according to the exigency of the case. 

3. Considering the necessity which may exist after the 
conclusion of a definitive treaty of peace with France, to 
keep in the field during a certain time sufficient forces to pro- 
tect the arrangements which the allies must make among 
themselves for the re-establishment of the situation of Europe, 
the high confederated powers have decided to concert among 
themselves, not only 6ver the necessity, but over the sum and 
the distribution of the forces to be kept upon foot, according 
to the need of the circumstances. None of the high confed- 
erated powers shall be required to furnish forces, for the pur- 
pose set forth above, during more than one year, without its 
express and voluntary consent, and England shall be at lib- 
erty to furnish its contingent in the manner stipulated in 
article 9. 

90. Documents upon the Transition to the 
Restoration Monarchy. 

As a group these documents show how the government of 
France passed from Napoleon to Louis XVIII. Taken separately 
several of them are of additional interest. Document A should 
be compared with No. 87. The indictment of the Napoleonic 
regime drawn in document C deserves careful attention. Docu- 
ments D and F should be compared. The character of the system 
of government which the Senate in document E proposed to es- 
tablish should be compared with that actuallv established by No. 
»3. 

Rfpeeences. Fonrnier, Napoleon. 672-6T8 : Rose, Napoleon, 
TI, 389-398 : Seignobos, Europe Since 1814, 104-105 ; Camhiidge 
Modei-n Hisiory, IX. 5.55-559 : Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire 
rvnerale. IX. 881-888 : Sorel. UEurope et la revolution frangaise, 
VIII, 316-325 ; Jaures, Histoire socialiste, VII, 6-25. 

A. Proclamation of the Allies. March 31, 1814. De Clercq, 
Trnitcs, H, 400-401. 

The grmies of the allied powers have occupied the capital 
of France. The allied sovereigns honor the wish of the 
French nation ; they declare : 

That if the conditions of peace must indeed include some 
strong guarantees when dealing with the enchaining of the 
ambition of Bonaparte, they must be more favorable when. 



444 Transition to Restoration Monarchy 

by a return to a wise governmePxt, France itself shall offer 
assurance of repose. The sovereigns proclaim in consequence: 

That they will no longer treat with Napoleon Bonaparte, 
nor with any member of his family. 

That they respect the integrity of old France, as it was 
under its legitimate kings ; they can even do more, because 
they will always respect the principle, that for the welfare of 
Europe it is necessary that France should be great and 
strong. 

They will recognize and guarantee the constitution which 
the French nation shall give itself. In consequence, they in- 
vite the senate to designate immediately a provisional gov- 
ernment w^hich can look after the needs of the administra- 
tion and prepare the constitution which shall be appropriate 
for the French people. 

The intentions which I have just expressed are common 
to all the allied powers. 

Paris, March 31, 18 14. 



Alexander. 



B. Act of the Senate. April i, 1814. Duvergier, Lois, 
XIX, 1-2. 

The Senate resolves : 

1. That there shall be established a provisional govern- 
ment charged to look after the needs of the administration 
and to present to the Senate a project for a constitution which 
vazy be suitable for the French people ; 

2. That this government shall be composed of five mem- 
bers. 



C. Decree for Deposing Napoleon. April 3-4, 1814. Du- 
vergier, Lois, XIX, 3-4. 

The Conservative Senate, 

Considering that, in a constitutional monarchy, the mon- 
arch exists only in virtue of the constitution or of the social 
compact : 

That Napoleon Bonaparte, during a short time of firm and 
prudent government, gave to the nation grounds for count- 
ing upon acts of wisdom and justice in the future; but that 



Transition to Restoration Monarchy 445 

afterwards he broke the compact which united him with the 
French people, especially in raising imposts and in estab- 
lishing taxes otherwise than in virtue of the law, contrary 
to the express tenor of the .oath which he had taken at his 
accession to the throne, in conformity with article 53 of the 
constitutions of 28 Floreal, Year XII ; 

That he has committed this attack upon the rights of the 
people also when he proceeded to adjourn the Legislative 
Body without necessity, and caused to be suppressed as crim- 
inal a report of that body, in which his title and his part in 
the national representation were contested ; 

That he has undertaken a series of wars in violation of ar- 
ticle 50 of the act of the constitutions of 22 Frimaire, Year 
VIII, which provides that a declaration of war shall be pro- 
posed, discussed, decreed and promulgated as are the laws ; 

That he has unconstitutionally rendered several decrees in- 
volving the death penalty, especially the two of March 5th 
last, the tendency of which was to cause to be considered as 
national a war which had occurred only in the interest of his 
unmeasured ambition ; 

That he has violated the constitutional laws by his decrees 
upon the state prisons ; 

That he has destroyed the responsibility of the ministers, 
confounded all the powers, and destroyed the independence of 
the judicial bodies; 

Considering that the liberty of the press, established and 
consecrated as one of the rights of the nation, has been con- 
stantly subjected to the arbitrary censorship of his police, and' 
that at the same time he has always made use of the press in 
order to fill France and Europe with imaginary facts, false 
maxims, doctrines favorable to despotism, and outrages 
against foreign governments ; 

That the acts and reports agreed to by the Senate have sus- 
tained alterations in the publication which has been made of 
them ; 

Considering that instead of reigning with a sole view to 
the interest, welfare and glory of the French people, accord- 
ing to the. terms of his oath. Napoleon has put the capstone 
to the misfortunes of the fatherland by his refusal to treat 
for conditions which the national interest would oblige him 
to accept and which did not compromise French honor ; 



446 Transition to Restoration Monarchy 

By the abuse which he has made of all the means in men 
and money which have been confided to him ; 

By the abandonment of the wounded without the dressing 
of their wounds, without relief, and without food ; 

By dififerent measures of which the results were the ruin 
of the cities, the depopulation of the country, famine and con- 
tagious diseases ; 

Considering that by all these causes the imperial govern- 
ment, established by the senatus-consultum of 28 Floreal, Year 
XII, has ceased to exist, and that the express wish of all 
Frenchmen calls for an order of things of which the first re- 
sult may be the re-establishment of the general peace, and 
which may be also the epoch of a solemn reconciliation among 
all the states of the great European family; 

The Senate declares and decrees as follows : 

1. Napoleon Bonaparte has forfeited the throne, and the 
right of inheritance established in his family is abolished. 

2. The French people and army are absolved from the 
oath of fidelity to Napoleon Bonaparte. 

3. The present decree shall be transmitted by a message 
to the provisional government of France, sent at once to all 
the departments and to the armies, and proclaimed immediate- 
ly in all the quarters of the capital. 

D. First Abdication of Napoleon. April 4, 1814. Helie, 
Constitutions, 878. 

The allied powers having proclaimed that the Emperor Na- 
poleon was the sole obstacle to the re-establishment of peace 
in Europe, the Emperor Napoleon, faithful to his oath, de- 
clares that he is ready to descend from the throne, to leave 
France and even to lay down his life for the welfare of the 
fatherland, which cannot be separated from the rights of hib. 
son, those of the regency of the Empress, and the laws of the 
Empire. 

Done at our palace of Fontainebleau, April 4, 1814. 

Napoleon. 

E. The Senate's Proposed Constitution. April 6, 1814. 
Duvergier, Lois, XIX, 6-8. 

The Conservative Senate, deliberating upon the project of 
a constitution which has been presented to it by the provis- 



Transition to Restoration Monarchy 447 

ional government, in execution of the act of the Senate of the 
1st of this month. 

After having heard the report of a special commission of 
seven members, 

Decrees as follows : 

1. The French government is monarchical and hereditary 
from male to male, by order of primogeniture. 

2. The French people freely summon to the throne of 
France Louis-Stanislas-Xavier of France, brother of the late 
king, and, after him, the other members of the house of Bour- 
bon in the old order. 

3. The old nobility resume their titles : the new retain 
theirs hereditarily. The Legion of Honor is maintained with 
its prerogatives ; the king shall determine the decoration. 

4. The executive power belongs to the king. 

5. The king, the Senate and the Legislative Body co-oper- 
ate in the formation of the laws. 

Projects of law can be proposed both in the Senate and in 
the Legislative Body. 

Those relative to taxes can be proposed only in the Legis- 
lative Body. 

The king can likewise invite the two bodies to occupy 
themselves with matters which he deems in need of consid- 
eration. 

The sanction of the king is necessary for the completion 
of the law. 

6. There are at least one hundred and fifty senators and 
two hundred at most. 

Their rank is irremovable and hereditary from male to 
male, by order of primogeniture. They are appointed by the 
king. 

The present senators, with the exception of those who may 
renounce the attribute of French citizenship, are retained and 
make part of that number. The present endowment of the 
Senate and of the senatorships belong to them. The revenues 
thereof are likewise divided among them and pass to their 
successors. In case of the death of a senator without direct 
male posterity, his portion returns to the public treasury. The 
senators who shall be appointed in the future cannot have 
part in this endowment. 



448 Transition to Restoration Monarchy 

7. The princes of the royal family and the princes of the 
blood are by right members of the Senate. 

They cannot exercise the functions of a senator until after 
they have reached the age of majority. 

8. The Senate determines the cases in which the discus- 
sion of the matters that it treats shall be public or secret. 

9. Each department shall select the same number of depu- 
ties to the Legislative Body which it was sending there. The 
deputies who were sitting in the Legislative Body at the time 
of its last adjournment shall continue to sit there until their 
replacement. All shall retain their stipend. 

For the future they shall be directly chosen by the electoral 
colleges, which are retained, subject to the changes which 
may be made by a law upon their organizaton. 

The duration of the functions of the deputies of the Legis- 
lative Body is fixed at five years. 

New elections shall take place for the session of 1816. 

10. The Legislative Body assembles of right October ist 
of each year. The king can convoke it extraordinarily. He 
can adjourn it; he can also dissolve it; but in this last case, 
another Legislative Body must be formed, within three months 
at the latest, by the electoral colleges. 

11. The Legislative Body has the right of discussion. The 
sittings are public, except in the case in which it thinks that 
it is expedient to form itself into committee of the whole. 

12. The Senate, the Legislative Body, the electoral col- 
leges, and the cantonal assemblies, elect their presidents from 
within their own midst. 

13. No member of the Senate or of the Legislative Body 
can be arrested without a prior authorisation of the body to 
which he belongs. 

The trial of an accused member of the Senate or of the 
Legislative Body belongs exclusively to the Senate. 

14. The ministers can be members either of the Senate or 
of the Legislative Body. 

15. Equality of proportion in taxation is a matter of right. 
No tax can be established or collected, unless it has been 
freety consented to by the Legislative Body and the Senate. 
The land tax can be established only for one year. The budg- 
et of the following year and the accounts of the preceding 
year are presented each year to the Legislative Body and the 



Transition to Restoration Monarchy 449 

Senate at the opening of the session of the Legislative Body. 

16. The law shall determine the mode and the quota of 
the recruiting for the army. 

17. The independence of the judicial authority is guaran- 
teed. Nobody can be deprived of his natural judges. 

The jury system is retained, as well as publicity of pro- 
ceedings in criminal matters. 
The penalty of confiscation of goods is abolished. 
The king has the right to grant pardons. 

18. The ordinary courts and tribunals actually in exist- 
ence are retained ; their number cannot be increased nor di- 
minished except in virtue of a law. The judges are for life 
and are irremovable, with exception of the justices of the 
peace and the commercial judges. The extraordinary com- 
missions and tribunals are suppressed, and they cannot be 
re-established. 

19. The court of cassation, the courts of appeal and the 
tribunals of first instance propose to the king three candidates 
for each position as judge which is vacant in their body; the 
king chooses one of the three. The king appoints the first 
presidents and the public minister of the courts and tribunals. 

20. Military men in active service, officers and soldiers in 
retirement, pensioned widows and officers, preserve their 
ranks, their honors and their pensions. 

21. The person of the king is inviolable and sacred. All 
acts of the government are signed by a minister. The min- 
isters are responsible for everything which these acts may 
contain which is injurious to the laws, to public and private 
liberty, and to the rights of citizens. 

22. Liberty of worship and of conscience is guaranteed- 
The ministers of the religious bodies are likewise paid and 
protected. 

22- The liberty of the press is complete, saving the legal 
repression of offences which might result from the abuse of 
that liberty. The senatorial commissions of liberty of the 
press and of personal liberty are retained. 

24. The public debt is guaranteed. The sales of the na- 
tional lands are irrevocably maintained. 

25. No Frenchman can be called to account for the opin- 
ions or votes which he may have given. 



450 Transition to Restoration Monarchy 

26. Any person has the right to address individual pe- 
titions to any constituted authority. 

27. All Frenchmen are equally eligible to all civil and mili- 
tary employments. 

28. All actually existing laws remain in force until they 
may be legally altered. The code of civil laws shall be en- 
titled Civil Code of tlie French. 

29. The present constitution shall be submitted for the 
acceptance of the French people in the form which shall be 
regulated. Louis-Stanislas-Xavier shall be proclaimed King 
of the French, as soon as he shall have sworn and signed by 
an act declaring: / accept the constitution; I swear to observe 
it and cause it to be observed. This oath shall be reiterated 
in the solemn ceremony by which he shall receive the oath 
of fidelity of the French. 

F. Second Abdication of Napoleon. April 11, 1814. Df 
Clercq, Traites, II, 402. 

The allied powers having proclaimed that the Emperor 
Napoleon was the sole obstacle tO' the re-establishment of 
peace in Europe, the Em.peror Napoleon, faithful to his oath, 
declares that he renounces, for himself, and for his heirs, the 
thrones of France and Italy, and that there is no personal 
sacrifice, even that of life, which he would not be ready to 
make in the interest of France. 

Done at the palace of Fontainebleau, April 11, 1814. 

Napoleon. 

G. Treaty of Fontainebleau. April 11, 1814. De Clercq, 
Traites^ II, 402-405. 

His Majesty the Emperor Napoleon of the one part, and 
their Majesties the Emperor of Austria, the King of Prussia 
and the Emperor of all the Russias, stipulating both in their 
names and in those of their allies, . 

I. His Majesty the Emperor Napoleon renounces for him- 
self, his successors and descendants, as well as for all the 
members of his family, all right of sovereignty and dominion, 
as well to the French Empire and the Kingdom of Italy as to 
every other country. 



Treaty of Paris 451 

2. Their Majesties the Emperor Napoleon and the Em- 
press Maria Louisa shall retain their titles and ranks, to be 
enjoyed during their lives. The mother, brothers, sisters, 
nephews and nieces of the Emperor shall retain, wherever 
they may be, the title of princes of his family. 

3. The island of Elba, adopted by His Majesty the Em- 
peror Napoleon as the place of his residence, shall form, dur- 
ing his life, a separate principality, which shall be possessed 
by him in full sovereignty and ownership. There shall be 
given besides, in full property, to the Emperor Napoleon, an 
annual revenue of 2,000,000 francs in rentes upon the ledger 
of France of which 1,000,000 shall be in reversion to the Em- 
press. 

5. The Duchies of Parma, Piacenza, the Guastalla shall 
be given in full ownership and sovereignty to Her Majesty 
the Empress Maria Louisa. They shall pass to her son, and 
to his descendants in the direct line. The prince, her son, 
shall take from this moment the title of Prince of Parma, 
Piacenza and Guastalla. 

6. There shall be reserved in the countries which the Em- 
peror Napoleon renounces for himself and his family domains 
or dower of rentes upon the ledger of France producing a 
net annual income, after deduction of all charges is made, of 
2,500,000 francs. These domains or rentes shall belong in full 
ownership, and to be disposed of as shall seem good to 
them, to the princes and princesses of his family and shall 
be apportioned among them in such a manner that the income 
of each may be in the following proportion : 



91. Treaty of Paris. 

May 30, 1814. Ilortslet, Map of Europe hy Treaty, 1-20. 

Two feattircs of lliis treaty call for particular notice. (1) 
The territorial limits of France should be comparecl with those 
existing urior to 1789, those of various subsequent dates such as 
170.5 and 1810, and those which on different occasions during 
7 813 and 1814 were offered to Napoleon. (2) The stipulations 
relative to the congress which subsequently met at Vienna may 
be compared with those in No. 73 and the arrangements effected 
by the Congress of Vienna. The negative features of the treaty 
may be profitably noticed. 



452 Treaty of Paris 

RTiFEBENCES. Andrews, Modern Eiirope, I, 89-90 ; Fyffe, Mod- 
ern Europe, J. r)3t)-r)41 (Popiilar cd., 860-364) ; Rose. Napoleon, 
TT. 401 : Cainhridge Modern History, IX, 563-564, 576-577 ; La- 
visse and Rambaud, Histoire generale, X, 1-4 ; Sorel, L'Europe et la 
revolution francaiie, VIII, 346-353. 

In the Name of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity. 

His Majesty, the King of the United Kingdom of Great 
Britain and Ireland, and his allies on the one part, and His 
Majesty the King of France and Navarre on the other part, 
animated by an equal desire to terminate the long agitations 
of Europe, and the sufferings of mankind, by a permanent 
peace, founded upon a just repartition of force between its 
states, and containing in its stipulations the pledge of its dur- 
ability and His Britannic Majest}', together with his allies, 
being unwilling to require of France, now that, replaced under 
the paternal governm.ent of her kings, she offers the assur- 
ance of security and stability to Europe, the conditions and 
guarantees which they had with regret demanded from her 
former government, their said Majesties have named plenipo- 
tentiaries to discuss, settle, and sign a treaty of peace and 
amity; namely, 

1. There shall be from this day forward perpetual peace 
and friendship between His Britannic Majesty and his allies 
on the one part, and His Majesty the King of France and Na- 
varre on the other, their heirs and successors, their domin- 
ions and subjects, respectively. 

The high contracting parties shall devote their best atten- 
tion to maintain, not only between themselves, but, inasmuch 
as depends upon them, between all the states of Europe, that 
harmony' and good understanding which are so necessary for 
their tranquility. 

2. The Kingdom of France retains its limits entire, as 
they existed on the ist of January, 1792. It shall further re- 
ceive the increase of territory comprised within the line es- 
tablished by the following article : 

3. On the side of Belgium, G.ermany, and Italy, the ancient 
frontiers shall be re-established as they existed on the ist 01 
January, 1792, extending from the North Sea, between Dun- 
kirk and Nieuport to the Mediterranean between Cagnes and 
Nice, with the following modifications : 



Treaty of Paris 453 

[This line is shown by maps in Hertslet, Map of Europe by 
Treaty, 28-29.] 

France on her part renounces all rights of sovereignty, su- 
zerainty, etc., and of possession, over all the countries, dis- 
tricts, towns, and places situated beyond the frontier above 
described, the principality of Monaco being replaced on the 
same footing on which it stood before the ist of January, T792. 

The allied powers assure to France the possession of the 
principality of Avignon, of the Comitat Venaissin, of the 
Comte of Montbeliard, together with the several insulated 
territories which formerly belonged to Germany, compre- 
hended within the frontier above described, whether they have 
been incorporated with France before or after the ist of 
January, 1792. 

5. The navigation of the Rhine, from the point where it 
becomes navigable unto the sea, and vice versa, shall be free, 
so that it can be interdicted to no one: — and at the future 
congress attention shall be paid to the establishment of the 
principles according to which the duties to be raised by the 
states bordering on the Rhine may be regulated, in the mode 
the most impartial and the most favourable to the commerce 
of all nations. 

The future congress, with a view to facilitate the communi- 
cation between nations and continually to render them less 
strangers to each other, shall likewise examine and deter- 
mine in what manner the above provisions can be extended to 
other rivers, which in their navigable course, separate or 
traverse different states. 

6. Holland, placed under the sovereignty of the house of 
Orange, shall receive an increase of territory. The title and 
exercise of that sovereignty shall not in any case belong to 
a prince wearing, or destined to wear, a foreign crown. 

The states of Germany shall be independent, and united 
by a federative bond. 

Switzerland, independent, shall continue to govern herself. 

Italy, beyond the limits of the countries which are to revert 
to Austria, shall be composed of sovereign states. 

7. The island of Malta and its dependencies shall belong 
in full right and sovereignty to His Britannic Majesty. 

8. His Britannic Majesty, stipulating for himself and his 



454 Treaty of Paris 

allies, engages to restore to His Most Christian Majesty, 
within the term which shall he hereafter fixed, the colonies, 
fisheries, factories, and establishments of every kind which 
were possessed by France on the ist of January, 1792, in the 
seas and on the continents of America, Africa, and Asia ; 
with the exception, however, of the Islands of Tobago and St. 
Lucia, and of the Isle of France and its dependencies, espe- 
cially Rodrigues and Les Scchelles, which several colonies and 
possessions His Most Christian Majesty cedes in full right 
and sovereignty to His Britannic Majesty, and also the por- 
tion of St. Domingo ceded to France by the Treaty of Basle, 
and which His Most Christian Majesty restores in full right 
and sovereignty to His Catholic Majesty, 

32; All the powers engaged on either side in the present 
war, shall, within the space of two months, send plenipoten- 
tiaries to Vienna, for the purpose of regulating, in general 
congress, the arrangements which are to complete the pro- 
visions of the present treaty. 



Additional, Separate, and Secret Articles. 

1. The disposal of the territories given up by His Most 
Christian Majesty, under the 3d article of the public treat}^ 
and the relations from whence a system of real and perma- 
nent balance of power in Europe is to be derived, shall be reg- 
ulated at the congress upon the principles determined upon 
by the allied powers among themselves, and according to the 
general provisions contained in the following articles. 

2. The possessions of His Imperial and Royal Apostolic 
Majesty in Italy, shall be bounded by the Po, the Tessino, 
and the Lago Maggiore. The King of Sardinia shall return 
to the possession of his ancient dominions, with the excep- 
tion of that part of Savoy secured to France by the 3d article 
of the present treaty. His Majesty shall receive an increase 
of territory from the state of Genoa. 

The Port of Genoa shall continue to be a free port; the 
powers reserving to themselves the right of making arrange- 
ments upon this point with the King of Sardinia. 

France shall acknowledge and guarantee, conjointl)'' with 
the allied powers, and on the same footing, the political or- 
ganization which Switzerland shall adopt under the auspices 



Declaration of St, Ouen 455 

of the said allied powers, and according to the basis already 
agreed upon with them. 

3. The establishment of a just balance of power in Europe 
requiring that Holland should be so constituted as to be en- 
abled to support her independence through her own resources, 
the countries comprised between the sea, the frontiers of 
France, such as they are defined by the present treaty, and 
the Meuse, shall be given up forever to Holland, 

The frontiers upon the right bank of the Meuse shall be 
regulated according to the military convenience of Holland, 
and her neighbours. 

The freedom of the navigation of the Scheldt shall be es- 
tablished upon the same principle which has regulated the 
navigation of the Rhine, in the 5th Article of the present 
treaty. 

4. The German territories upon the left bank of the Rhine, 
which have been united to France since 1792, shall contribute 
to the aggrandizement of Holland, and shall be further ap- 
plied to compensate Prussia, and other German states. 



92, Declaration of St. Ouen. 



May 2, IS 14. Duvergier, Lois, XIX, 23. 

The Count of Artois, acting for Louis XVIII. declined to ac- 
cept the constitution prepared by the Senate (No. 97 E). He 
was. however, prevailed upon to promise that he would accept 
•'the basis" oC it. This declaration was promulgated in redemp- 
tion of that promise. It should be compared with both the Sen- 
ate's constitution and the Constitutional Charter (No. 93). 

TiKFFRKXCES. Seignobos. Etirope Fiince I8II1, 106 : Lavisse 
and liambaud, Histoire generale, IX, 890-891. 

Louis, by the grace of God, King of France and of Na- 
varre, to all those to whom these presents come, greeting. 

Recalled by the love of our people to the throne of our 
fathers, enlightened by the misfortunes of the nation, which 
we are destined to govern, our first thought is to invoke that 
mutual confidence so necessary to our repose and to its wel- 
fare. 

After having read attentively the plan for a constitution 
proposed by the Senate at its sitting of the 6th of April last. 



456 Declaration of St. Ouen 

we have recognized that the principles thereof were good, 
but that a great number of articles bear the impress of the 
haste with which they were drawn up and they cannot in 
their present form become fundamental laws of the state. 

Resolved to adopt a liberal constitution, we wish that it 
should be wisely drawn up ; and not being able to accept one 
which it is necessary to rectify, we convoke, for the loth of 
the month of June of the present year, the Senate and the 
Legislative Body, and engage to put before their eyes the 
work which we shall have done with a commission chosen 
from among these two bodies; and to give as a basis for this 
constitution the following guarantees : 

Representative government shall be maintained such as it 
is to-day, divided into two bodies, to wit : 

The Senate and the Chamber composed of the deputies of 
the departments ; 

Taxes shall be freely consented to ; 

Public and personal liberty are guaranteed; 

Liberty of the press shall be respected, saving the precau- 
tions necessary for the public tranquility; 

Liberty of worship is guaranteed ; 

Property shall be inviolable and sacred; the sale of the 
national lands shall remain irrevocable. 

Responsible ministers may be prosecuted by one of the 
legislative chambers and judged by the other. 

Judges shall be irremovable, and the judicial power inde- 
pendent ; 

The public debt shall be guaranteed; pensions, ranks and 
military honors shall be preserved, as also the old and the 
new nobility. 

The Legion of Honor, of which we will fix the decoration, 
shall be maintained. 

Every Frenchman shall be eligible to civil and military em- 
plo3'ments. 

Finally, no person shall be disturbed on account of his opin- 
ions or his vote. 

Given at St. Ouen, May 2, 1814. 

Signed, Louis. 



Constitutional Charter of 1814 457 

93. Constitutional Charter of 1814. 

June 4, 1814, Duvergier, Lois, XIX, 59-73. 

This famous document presents many points of intei-est. Two 
features of it are particularly wortliy of notice. (1) As a state- 
ment of what the restored Bourbons would accept, it exhibits some 
of the most important permanent gains of the revolution. 'Chis 
may be brought out by comparing it with typical cahiers of 1789 
or with the constitut-ion of 1791 (No. 15). As the frame of gov- 
ernment under which France lived until 1830, it is an excellent 
starting point for a study of that period. The phraseology of the 
document requires careful attention. 

REFEr.ENCFS. Fyflfe, Modern Europe, II, 14-15, (Popular ed., 
376-377): Seignobos. Europe Since ISJJ/, 106-108; Andrews, J\fod- 
ern Europe, T, 135-137; Camhridge Modern History, IX, 563; 
Jaures, Histoire socialiste, VII, 35-36. 

Louis, by the grace of God, King of France and Navarre, 
to all those to whom these presents come, greeting. 

Divine Providence, in recalling us to our estates after a 
long absence, has laid upon us great obligations. Peace v^^as 
the first need of our subjects: we have employed ourselves 
thereto without relaxation; and that peace, so necessary for 
France, as well as for the remainder of Europe, is signed. 
A constitutional charter was called for by the actual condi- 
tion of the kingdom; we promised it, and we now publish 
it. We have taken into consideration that, although al) au- 
thority in France resides in the person of the king, cur prede- 
cessors have not hesitated to alter the exercise thereof in 
accordance with the change of the times : that it was in this 
manner that the communes owed their emancipation to Louis, 
the Fat, the confirmation and extension of their rights to 
Saint Louis and Philip the Fair; that the judicial system was 
established and developed by the laws of Louis XI, Henry II 
and Charles IX ; and finally, that Louis XIV regulated al- 
most all parts of the public administration by various ordi- 
nances whose wisdom nothing has yet surpassed. 

We are bound, by the example of the kings, our prede- 
cessors, to estimate the effects of the ever increasing prog- 
ress of enlightenment, the new relations which these advances 
have introduced into society, the direction impressed upon 
opinions during the past half century, and the significant al- 
terations which have resulted therefrom : we have recognized 
that the wish of our subjects for a constitutional charter was 
the expression of a real need; but, in yielding to this wish, 



458 Constitutional Charter of 1814 

we have taken every precaution that this charter should be 
worthy of us and of the people over whom we are proud to 
rule. Sagacious men taken from^ the highest body of the 
state met with commissioners of our council to labor upon 
this important work. 

While we have recognized that a free and monarchical con- 
stitution was necessary to meet the expectation of enlightened 
Europe, we have also been constrained to remember that' our 
first duty towards our subjects was to preserve, in their own 
interest, the rights and prerogatives of our crown. We have 
hoped that, taught by experience, they may be convinced that 
only the supreme authority can give to institutions which it 
establishes the strength, permanence, and m.ajesty with which 
it is itself invested; that thus, when the wisdom of the king 
freely coincides with the wish of the people, a constitutional 
charter can be of long duration; but that, when violence 
wrests concessions from the feebleness of the government, 
public liberty is not less in danger than the throne itself. In 
a word, we have sought the principles of the constitutional 
charter in the French character and in the enduring examples 
of past ages. Thus, we have seen, in the renewal of the peer- 
age, an institution truly national and one which must bind all 
the recollections with all the hopes, in bringing together for- 
mer and present times. 

We have replaced by the Chamber of Deputies those for- 
mer assemblies of the fields of March and May, and those 
chambers of the Third Estate, which so often gave at the 
same time proof of zeal for the interests of the people and of 
fidelity and respect for the authority of the king. In thus 
attempting to renew the chain of the times, which disastrous 
errors have broken, we have banished from our recollection, 
as we could wish it were possible to blot out from history, 
all the evils which have aftlicted the fatherland during our ab- 
sence. Happy to find ourselves once more in the boso-m' of 
our great family, we have felt that we could respond to the 
love of which we have received so many testimonials, only 
by pronouncing words of peace and consolation. The dearest 
wish of our heart is that all Frenchmen should live as broth- 
ers, and that no bitter recollection should ever disturb the 
security that must follow the solemn act which we grant them 
to-day. 



Constitutional Charter of 1014 459 

Assured of our intentions, and strengthened by our con- 
science, we pledge ourselves, in the presence of the assembly 
which hears us, to be faithful to this constitutional charter, re- 
serving to ourselves to swear to maintain it with a nfiw so- 
lemnity, before the altars of Him who weig-hs in the same 
balance kings and nations. 

For these reasons. 

We have voluntarily, and by the free exercise of our royal 
authority, accorded and do accord, grant and concede to our 
subjects, as well for us as for our successors forever, the 
constitutional charter which follows: 

Public Law of the French. 

1. Frenchmen are equal before the law, whatever may be 
their titles and ranks. 

2. They contribute without distinction, in proportion to 
their fortunes, towards the expenses of the state. 

3. They are all equally admissible to civil and military 
employments. 

4. Their personal liberty is likewise guaranteed ; no one 
can be prosecuted nor arrested save in the cases provided by 
law and in the form which it prescribes. 

5. Every one may profess his religion with equal freedom, 
and shall obtain for his worship the same protection. 

6. Nevertheless, the catholic, apostolic and Roman relig- 
ion is the religion of the state. 

7. The ministers of the catholic, apostolic and Roman 
religion and those of the other christian sects alone receive 
stipends from the royal treasury. 

S. Frenchmen have the right to publish and to have print- 
ed their opinions, while conforming with the laws, which are 
necessary to restrain abuses of that liberty. 

9. All property is inviolable, without any exception for 
that which is called national, the law making no distinction 
between them. 

10. The state can require the sacrifice of a property on ac- 
count of a legally established public interest, but with a pre- 
vious indemnity. 

11. All investigations of opinions and votes given prior 
to the restoration are forbidden. The same oblivion is re- 
quired from the tribunals and from citizens. 



460 Constitutional Charter o£ 1814 

12. The conscription is abolished. The method of recruit- 
ing for the army and navy is determined by a law. 

Form of the Government of the King. 

13. The person of the king is inviolable and sacred. His 
ministers are responsible. To the king alone belongs the ex- 
ecutive pow^er. 

14. The king is the supreme head of the state, commands 
the land and sea forces, declares war, makes treaties of peace, 
alliance and commerce, appoints to all places of public ad- 
ministration, and makes the necessary regulations and ordi- 
nances for the execution of the laws and the security of the 
state. 

15. The legislative power is exercised collectively by the 
king, the Chamber of Peers, and the Chamber of the Depu- 
ties of the departments. 

16. The king proposes the laws. 

17. The proposition for a law is sent, at the pleasure of 
the king, to the Chamber of Peers or to that of the Deputies, 
except a law for the imposition of taxes, which must be sent 
first to the Chamber of Deputies. 

18. Every law shall be freely discussed and voted by the 
majority of each of the two chambers. 

19. The chambers have the power to petition the king 
to propose a law upon any subject whatsoever and to indi- 
cate what seems suitable for the law to contain. 

20. This request can be made by either of the two cham- 
bers, but only after having been discussed in secret commit- 
tee; it shall be sent to the other chamber by that which shall 
have proposed it, only after an interval of ten days. 

21. If the proposal is adopted by the other chamber, it 
shall be laid before the king; if it is rejected, it cannot be 
presented again in the same session. 

22. The king alone sanctions and promulgates the laws. 

23. The civil list is fixed, for the entire duration of the 
reign, by the first legislature assembled after the accession 
of the king. 

Of the Chambers of Peers. 

24. The Chamber of Peers is an essential part of the leg- 
islative power. 



Constitutional Charter of 1814 461 

25. It is convoked by the king at the same time as the 
Chamber of the Deputies of the departments. The session of 
the one begins and ends at the same time as that of the other. 

26. Every meeting of the Chamber of Peers which may 
be held outside of the time of the session of the Chamber of 
Deputies, or which may not be ordered by the king, is unlaw- 
ful and of no validity. 

27. The appointment of peers of France belongs to the 
king. Their number is unlimited : he can at his pleasure al- 
ter their dign,ities, appoint them for life, or make them hered- 
itary. 

28. Peers have entrance to the chamber at twenty-five 
years and a deliberative voice only at thirty years. 

29. The Chamber of Peers is presided over by the chan- 
cellor of France, and in his absence, by a peer appointed by 
the king. 

30. Members of the r03'al family and princes of the blood 
are peers by right of their birth. They sit next to the presi- 
dent; but they have no deliberative voice until twenty-five 
years of age. 

31. The princes can take their places in the chamber only 
upon the order of the king, expressed for each session by 
a message, under penalty of invalidating everything which 
may have been done in their presence. 

32. All the deliberations of the Chamber of Peers are se- 
cret. 

33. The Chamber of Peers has jurisdiction over the crimes 
of high treason and attacks against the security of the state, 
which shall be defined by law. 

34. No peer can be arrested except by the authority of 
the chamber, nor tried in a criminal matter except by it. 

Of the Chamber of Deputies of the Departments. 

35. The Chamber of Deputies shall be composed of the 
deputies elected by electoral colleges, whose organization shall 
be determined by law. 

36. Each department shall have the same number of dep- 
uties that it has had up to the present time. 

37. The deputies shall be elected for five years and in such 
a manner that the chamber may be renewed each year by a 
fifth. 



462 Constitutional Charter of 1814 

38. No deputy can be admitted to the chamber miless he 
is forty years of age and pays a direct tax of one thousand 
francs. 

39. Nevertheless, if there cannot be found in the department 
fifty persons of the requisite age, who pay at least one thou- 
sand francs of direct taxes, their number shall be filled up 
from the largest taxpayers under one thousand francs, and 
these shall be elected together with the first. 

40. Electors who meet for the naming of deputies cannot 
have the right of suffrage, unless they pay a direct tax of 
three hundred francs and are not less than thirty years of age. 

41. The presidents of the electoral colleges shall be ap- 
pointed by the king, and are ex-officio mem.bers of the college. 

42. At least one-half of the deputies shall be chosen from 
among the eligibles who have their political domicile in the 
department. 

43. The president of the Chamber of Deputies is appointed 
by the king, from a list of five members presented by the 
chamber. 

44. The sittings of the chamber are public, but the request 
of five members suffices for it to form^ itself into secret com- 
mittee. 

45. The chamber divides itself into bureaux in order to 
discuss the propositions which have been presented to it by 
the king. 

46. No amendment can be made in a law unless it has 
been proposed or consented to by the king, and unless it has 
been sent back to the bureaux and discussed there. 

47. The Chamber of Deputies receives all proposals in re- 
gard to taxes ; only after these proposals have been accepted 
can they be carried to the Chamber of Peers. 

48. No tax can be imposed or collected, unless it has been 
consented to by the two chambers and sanctioned by the 
king. 

49. The land tax is consented to only for one year. In- 
direct taxes can be established for several years. 

50. The king convokes the two chambers each year : he 
prorogues them, and can dissolve that of the deputies of the 
departments; but, in that case, he must convoke a new one 
within the space of three months. 

51. No bodily constraint can be exercised against a mem- 



Constitutional Charter of 1814 463 

ber of the chamber during the session nor in the preceding or 
following six weeks. 

52. No member of the chamber, during the course of the 
session, can be prosecuted or arrested upon a criminal charge, 
unless he should be taken in the act, except after the chamber 
has permitted his prosecution. 

53. No petition can be made or presented to either of the 
chambers, except in writing. The law forbids any personal 
presentation of them at the bar. 

Of the Ministers. 

54. The ministers can be members of the Chamber of 
Peers or of the Chamber of Deputies. They have, besides, 
their entrance into either chamber, and they must be heard 
when they demand it. 

55. The Chamber of Deputies has the right to accuse the 
ministers and to arraign them before the Chamber of Peers, 
which alone has that of trying them. 

56. They can be accused only for acts of treason and pecu- 
lation. Special laws shall determine the nature of this of- 
fence and shall fix the method of prosecution. 

Of the Judiciary. 

57. All justice emanates from the king. It is administered 
in his name by judges whom he appoints and whom he invests. 

58. The judges appointed by the king are irremovable. 

59. The courts and regular tribunals actually existing are 
continued. They shall not be in any wise changed except 
by virtue of a law. 

60. The existing commercial court is retained. 

61. The justice of the peace, likewise, is retained. Justices 
of the peace, although appointed by the king, are not irre- 
movable. 

62. No one can be deprived of the jurisdiction of his nat- 
ural judges. 

63. In consequence, extraordinary commissions and tri- 
bunals cannot be created. Provost-courts are not included un- 
der this denomination, if their re-establishment is deemed 
necessary. 

64. Criminal trials shall be public, unless such publicity 



464 Constitutional Charter of 1814 

should be dangerous to order and morality ; and in that case, 
the tribunal shall declare it by a judicial order. 

65. The system of juries is retained. Changes which a 
longer experience may cause to be thought necessary can be 
made only by a law. 

66. The penalty of confiscation of property is abolished 
and cannot be re-established. 

67. The king has the right of pardon, and that of com- 
muting penahies. 

68. The Civil Code, and the laws actually existing which 
are not in conflict with the present charter, remain in force 

until legally abrogated. 

Special Rights Guaranteed by the State. 

69. Persons in active military service, retired officers and 
soldiers, pensioned widows, officers and soldiers, retain their 
ranks, honors and pensions. 

70. The public debt is guaranteed. Every form of engage- 
ment made by the state with its creditors is inviolable. 

71. The old nobility resume their titles. The new retain 
theirs. The king makes nobles at will, but he grants to them 
only ranks and honors, without any exemption from the bur- 
dens and duties of society. 

T2. The Legion of Honor is maintained. The king shall 
determine its internal regulations and its decoration. 

"JZ- The colonies shall be governed by special laws and 
regulations. 

74. The king and his successors shall swear, at the sol- 
emnizing of their coronation, to observe faithfully the present 
constitutional charter. 

Temporary Articles. 

75. The deputies of the departments of France who sat in 
the Legislative Body at the time of its last adjournment shall 
continue to sit in the Chamber of Deputies until replaced. 

76. The first renewal of a fifth of the Chamber of Deputies 
shall take place in the year 1816, at the latest, according to 
the order established in the series. 

We command that the present constitutional charter, laid 
before the Senate and the Legislative Body, in conformity 



Proclamation of Napoleon 465 

with our proclamation of May 2, shall be sent forthwith to 
the Chamber of Peers and that of the Deputies. 

Given at Paris, in the year of grace, 1814, and of our reign 
the nineteenth. 

Signed, Louis. 



• 94. Proclamation of Napoleon. 

March 1, 1S15. Duvergier, Lois, XIX, 373. 

This proclamation, dated on the day of his arrival in France 
from Elba, is typical of the declarations and addresses made by 
Napoleon during the course of his journey to Paris. A similar 
proclamation was addressed to the army. The manner in which 
the disasters of 1814 are explained and the skill with which ap- 
peal is made to the memories of the Empire should be noticed. 

Reference. Lavisse and Ramtaaud, Histoire generale, IX, 
003-904. 

Frenchmen, the defection of the Duke of Castiglione de- 
livered Lyon without defence to our enemies ; the army, of 
which I had confided to him the command, was, by the num- 
ber of its battalions, and the bravery and patriotism of the 
troops who composed it, in a condition to fight the Austrian 
army which was opposing it and to reach the rear of the left 
flank of the hostile army which v/as threatening Paris. 

The victories of Champ-Aubert, Montmirail, Chateau-Thier- 
ry, Vauchamp, Mormans, Montereau, Craone, Reims, Arcy- 
sur-Aube and Saint-Dizier, the rising of the brave peas- 
ants of Lorraine, Champagne, Alsace, Franche-Comte and 
Bourgogne, and the- position which I had taken at the rear 
of the hostile army, separating it from its magazines, its re- 
serve parks, its convoys and all its equipment, had placed it 
in a desperate position. Frenchmen were never at the point 
of being more powerful, and the flower of the hostile army 
was lost beyond recovery; it would have found its grave in 
those vast countries which it has so pitilessly plundered, but 
that the treason of the Duke of Raguse gave up the capital 
and disorganized the army. The unexpected conduct of these 
two generals, who betrayed at one and the same time their 
fatherland, their prince and their benefactor, changed the 
destiny of the war. The disastrous situation of the enemy 
was such, that at the end of the affair which took place be- 



466 Proclamation of Napoleon 

fore Paris, they were without ammunition, through separa- 
tion from their reserve parks. 

Under these new and difficuh circumstances my heart was 
torn, but my soul remained steadfast. I only thought of the 
interest of the fatherland; I exiled myself upon a rock in the 
midst of the sea; my life was and must still be useful to you. 
I did not allow the greater part of those who wished to ac- 
company me to share my lot ; I thought their presence was 
useful in France, and I only took with me a handful of val- 
iant men as my guard. 

Raised to the throne by your choice, everything that has 
been done without you is illegitimate. During the last twen- 
ty-five years, France has acquired new interests, new institu- 
tions, and a new glory, which can only be guaranteed by a 
national government and by a dynasty born under these new 
circumstances. A prince whO' would reign over you, who 
would be seated upon my throne by the power of the very 
armies who have devastated our territory, would seek in vain 
to support himself by the principles of feudal rig'hts and he 
could only assure the honor and the rights of a small num- 
ber of individuals, enemies of the people, who, for twenty- 
five years past, have condemned them in our national assem- 
blies. Your internal peace and your foreign prestige would 
be forever lost. 

Frenchmen ! In my exile I have heard your complaints and 
your desires: you were claiming that government of your 
choice, which alone is legitimate. You were complaining of 
my long sleep, you reproached me with sacrificing to my own 
repose the great interests of the fatherland. 

I have crossed the seas in the midst of perils of every sort; 
I arrive among you in order to reclaim my rights, which are 
yours. Everything which individuals have done, written or 
said since the taking of Paris, I will forever ignore ; that 
will not in the least influence the recollection which I have 
of the important services that they have rendered ; for there 
are events of such a nature that they are beyond human organ- 
ization. 

Frenchmen ! There is no nation, however small it may be, 
which has not had the right to withdraw and which may not 
be withdrawn from^ the dishonor of obeyingf a prince imposed 
upon it by a momentarily victorious enemy. When Charles 



Decree for Extraordinary Assembly 467 

VII re-entered Paris and overthrew the ephemeral throne of 
Henry VI he recognized that he held his throne by the brav- 
ery of his soldiers and not from a prince regent of England. 
It is therefore to you alone; and to the brave men of the 
army, that I consider and shall always consider it glorious to 
owe everything. 

Signed, Napoleon. 



95. Decree for Convoking an Extraordinary 
Assembly. 

March l.S, 1815. Duvergier. Lois, XIX, 375-376. 

This decree is typical of the series issued by Napoleon while 
at Lyon on his journey to Paris. The list of reasons for dissolv- 
ing the Senate and Legislative Body contains many of the pop- 
ular grievanros against the restored Bourbon regime for things 
actually done or anticipated. 

Refeiiencks. Fournier, Napoleon, 692 ; Rose, Napoleon, II, 
•108. 

Napoleon by the grace of God and the constitutions of 
the Empire, Emperor of the French, considering that the 
Chamber of Peers is in part composed of persons who have 
borne arms against France, and who have an interest in the 
re-establishment of feudal rights, in the destruction of equal- 
ity among the different classes, in the setting aside of the 
sales of the national lands, and, in short, in depriving the peo- 
ple of the rights which they have acquired by twenty-five 
years of conflict against the enemies of the national glory; 

Considering that the powers of the deputies to the Legis- 
lative Body have expired, and that, therefore, the Chamber 
of the Commons has no longer any national character; that 
a portion of that chamber has shown itself unworthy of the 
confidence of the nation by adhering to the re-establishment 
of the feudal nobility, abolished by constitutions that the peo- 
ple have accepted ; in causing France to pay debts contracted 
abroad for the purpose of organizing coalitions and hiring 
armies against the French people ; in giving to the Bourbons 
the title of legitimate king, thereby declaring that the French 
people and armies were rebels, and proclaiming that the only 
good Frenchmen were the emigres, who have for twenty-five 



468 Declaration against Napoleon 

years rent the bosom of the fatherland and violated all the 
rights of the people by consecrating the principle that the na- 
tion was made for the throne and not the throne for the na- 
tion, 

We have decreed and do decree as follows : 

1. The Chamber of Peers is dissolved. 

2. The Chamber of the Commons is dissolved; each of its 
members summoned and arrived at Paris since the seventh 
of March is ordered to return to his domicile without delay. 

3. The electoral colleges of the departments of the Empire 
shall meet at Paris during the course of the approaching 
month of May in extraordinary assembly of the Champ-de- 
Mai, for the purpose of taking suitable measures to correct 
and modify our constitutions in accordance with the interest 
and the will of the nation, and at the same time to assist at 
the coronation of the Empress our very dear and well-be- 
loved wife snd at that of our dear and well-beloved son. 



96. Declaration of the Powers against 
Napoleon. 

March 13, 1815. British and Foreign State Papers, II, C65. 

This declaration was issued by the Congress of Vienna upon 
learning that Napoleon had left Klba. It shows the precise atti- 
tude of the Powers of Europe towards him. 

References. Fournier. Napoleon, 697-699 ; Rose. Napoleon, 
II, 410-411 ; Camhridffe Modern History, IX, 617-618 ; Lavisse 
and Rambaud, Histoire gen6rale, X, 47. 

The powers who have signed the treaty of Paris reassembled 
in congress at Vienna having been informed of the es- 
cape of Napoleon Bonaparte, and of his entrance intO' France 
with an armed force, owe tO' their dignity and the interest of 
social order a solemn declaration of the sentiments which 
that event has inspired in them. 

In thus violating the convention which established him in 
the island of Elba, Bonaparte destroyed the only legal title 
for his existence. By reappearing in France with projects of 
disorder and destruction, he has cut himself ofif from the pro- 
tection of the law and has shown in the face of the world 
that there can be neither peace nor truce with him. 

Accordingly, the powers declare that Napoleon Bonaparte 



Treaty of Alliance against Napoleon 469 

is excluded from civil and social relations, and, as an enemy 
and disturber of the tranquility of the world, that he has in- 
curred public vengeance. 

At the same time, being firmly resolved to preserve intact 
the treaty of Paris of May 30, 1814, and the arrangements 
sanctioned by that treaty, as well as those which have been 
or shall be arranged hereafter in order to complete and con- 
solidate it, they declare that they will employ all their re- 
sources and will unite all their efforts in order that the gen- 
eral peace, the object of the desires of Europe and the con- 
stant aim of their labors, may not be again disturbed, and in 
order tC' secure themselves from all attempts which may 
threaten to plunge the world once more into the disorders 
and misfortunes of revolutions. 

And although fully persuaded that all France, rallying 
around its legitimate sovereign, will strive unceasingly to 
bring to naught this last attempt of a criminal and impotent 
madman, all the sovereigns of Europe, animated by the same 
feeling and guided by the same principles, declare that if, con- 
trary to all expectation, there shall result from that event any 
real danger, they will be ready to give to the King of France 
and the French nation or to any government which shall be 
attacked, as soon as shall be required, all the assistance neces- 
sary to re-establish the public tranquility, and to make com- 
mon cause against all who may attempt to compromise it. 

The present declaration, inserted in the protocol of the 
Congress assembled at Vienna, March 13, 1815, shall be made 
public. 



97. Treaty of Alliance against Napoleon. 

March 25, 1815. De Clercq, TraiUs, II, 474-476. 

This treaty wap framed for the purpose of giving effect to the 
declaration of March 13 (see No. 96). It shows the strength, 
purpose and general character of the alliance against which Na- 
poleon had to contend. 

References. Pournier, 7\~apoleon, 698-699 : Rose, 'Napoleon, 
II, 41.2 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire generale, IX, 922, X,4T- 
49. 

In the Name of the Most Holy and Indivisible Trinity. 
His Majesty the King of Prussia and His Majesty the 



470 Treaty of Alliance against Napoleon 

King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, 
having taken into consideration the result which the invasion 
of France by Napoleon Bonaparte and the present situation 
of that kingdom may have for the security of Europe, have 
resolved of one accord with His Majesty the Emperor of 
all the Russias and His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, 
King of Hungary and of Bohemia, to apply to that important 
circumstance the principles consecrated by the treaty of Chau- 
mont. In consequence, they have agreed to renew by a solemn 
treaty, signed separately by each of the four powers with 
each of the other three, the engagement tc preserve against 
every attack the order of things so happily re-established in 
Europe and to determine the most effective means to put this 
engagement into execution, as well as to give it all the ex- 
tension which, under the present circumstances, it impera- 
tively requires. 

1. The above named high contracting parties solemnly 
agree to unite the means of their respective states, in order to 
maintain in all their integrity the conditions of the treaty of 
peace concluded at Paris on May 30, 1814, as well as the 
stipulations agreed to and signed at the Congress of Vienna 
with the purpose of completing the dispositions of that treaty 
and of guaranteeing them against every attack and particularly 
against the designs of Napoleon Bonaparte. For that purpose 
if the case should demand it and in the sense of the declara- 
tion of March 13 last, they agree to direct in concert and in 
common accord all their efforts against him and against all 
who may have already rallied to his faction or who may unite 
with it hereafter, in order to force them to desist from that 
project and to render them unable to disturb in the future the 
tranquilitj^ of Europe and the general peace, under the protec- 
tion of which the rights, the liberty and the independence of 
the nations have just come to be placed and assured. 

2. Although so great and so beneficent an aim does not 
permit the means destined for its attainment to be measured, 
and although the high contracting parties have resolved to 
consecrate to it all those of which, according to their respect- 
ive situations, they can dispose, they have each agreed to keep 
constantly in the field an hundred fifty thousand men complete, 
including at least the proportion of one-tenth of cavaln.' and a 



Treaty of Alliance against Napoleon 471 

Just proportion of artillery, without counting garrisons^ and to 
employ them actively and in concert against the common 
enemy. 

3. The high contracting parties reciprocally agree not to 
lay aside their arms except by a common accord and not until 
the object of the war designated in article i of the present 
treaty has been attained, and not until Bonaparte shall have 
been put absolutel}' beyond the possibility of exciting disturb- 
ances and of renewing his attempts to seize upon the supreme 
power in France. 

4. The present treaty being principally applied to the pres- 
ent circumstances, the stipulations of the treat}' of Chaumont, 
and especially those contained in article 14, shall again have 
all their force and vigor as soon as the present purpose shall 
have been attained. 

7. The engagements stipulated in the present treaty having 
for their purpose the maintenance of the general peace, the 
high contracting parties agree among themselves to invite 
all the powers of Europe to accede to it. 

8. The present treaty being solely intended for the purpose 
of supporting France, or any other invaded country against 
the enterprises of Bonaparte and his adherents. His Most 
Christian Majesty shall be specially invited to give his ad- 
herence to it and to make known, for- the case in which the 
forces stipulated in article 2 should be required, what assist- 
ance circumstances will permit him to bring to the object of 
the present treaty. 



Separate, Additional and Secret Article. 

As circumstances may prevent His Majestj' the King of 
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from keep- 
ing constantly in the field the number of troops specified in 
article 2, it is agreed that His Britannic Majesty shall have the 
right either to furnish his contingent or to pay at the rate of 
thirty pounds sterling per annum for each infantryman, to 
the extent of the number stipulated in article 2. 



472 Act Additional 

98. The Act Additional. 

April 22, 1815. Duvei-gier, Lois, XIX, 403-410. 

Upon returning to France Napoleon promised that political 
liberty shonld be secured. This document was promulgated in 
consequence of that promise. It was in the main the work of 
Benjamin Constant, a liberal and former opponent of the Empire. 
It should be compared with the constitutions of the Empire which 
it sni)plemented and modstied (see Xos. 58, 06 E, 71) and the 
Constitutional Charter which it replaced (No. 93). As with the 
preceding imperial constitutions, it was submitted to popular 
vote. The interest in it, however, was slight. It was never act- 
ually put into operation. 

Rkfeubnces. FyfEe, Modem Europe, II, 42-45. (Popular ed., 
395-397) : Fournier, KapoLeon. 702-705 ; Rose, Napoleon, II, 414- 
415 : Sloane, Napr.leon, IV, 167-168 ; Camhridge Modern Ilistonj, 
IX, 619-620 ; Lavisse and Kambaud, Histoire generale, IX, 919- 
921 ; Jaur&s, Ristoire socmliste, VII, 47-49. 

Napoleon, by the grace of God and the constitutions, Em- 
peror of the French. Since we were called fifteen years ago 
by the will of France to the government of the state we have 
sought at different times to improve the constitutional forms, 
according to the .needs and desires of the nation and by profit- 
ing from the lessons of experience. The constitutions of the 
Empire have thus been formed by a series of acts which have 
received the acceptance of the people. We had then for our 
aim to organize a great European federative system which we 
had adopted as in conformity with the spirit of the age and 
favorable to the progress of civilization. In order to bring it 
to completion and to give to it all the extent and all the stabil- 
ity of which it was susceptible, we had postponed the estab- 
lishment of several internal institutions, more especially de- 
signed to protect the liberty of the citizens. Our aim hence- 
forth is nothing else than to increase the prosperity of France 
by strengthening public liberty. From this springs the neces- 
siti' of several important alterations in the constitittions, 
senatus-consulta, and other acts which govern the Empire. 

For these reasons, wishing, on the one hand, to retain from 
the past whatever is good and salutary, and on the other, to 
make the constitutions of the Empire entirely conformable to 
the national wishes and needs, as well as to the state of peace 
Avhich we shall desire to maintain with Europe, we have 
resolved to propose to the people a series of provisions tending 
to alter and improve these constitutional acts, to surrounJ the 
rights of citizens with all their guarantees, to give to the 



Act Additional 473 

representative system its full extent, to invest the intermediary 
bodies with desirable importance and power ; in a word, to 
combine the highest point of political liberty and individual 
security with the strength and centralization necessary to 
make the independence of the French people and the dignity 
of our crown respected by foreigners. In consequence, the 
following articles, forming an act supplementary to the con- 
stitutions of the Empire, shall be submitted for the free 
and solemn acceptance of all citizens throughout the whole 
extent of France. 

Title I. General Provisions. 

1. The constitutions of the Empire, particularly the consti- 
tutional act of 22 Frimaire; Year VIII, the senatus-consulta 
of 14 and 16 Thermidor, Year X, and that of 28 Floreal, .Year 
XII, shall be altered by the following provisions. All of their 
other provisions are confirmed and maintained. 

2. The legislative power is exercised by the Emperor and 
by two chambers. 

3. The first chamber, called Chamber of Peers, is hered- 
itary. 

4. The Emperor appoints its inembers, who are irremov- 
able, they and their male descendants in the direct line from 
eldest to eldest. The number of peers is unlimited. Adoption 
does not transmit the dignity of a peer to one who is the 
object of it. 

Peers take seats at twenty-one years of age, but have a 
deliberative voice only at twenty-five. 

5. The Chamber of Peers is presided over by the arch- 
chancellor of the Empire, or, in the case provided for by article 
51 of the senatus-consultum of 28 Floreal, Year XII, by one 
of the members of that chamber especially designated by 
the Emperor. 

6. The members of the imperial family within the order of 
succession are peers by right. They sit beside the president. 
They take seats at eighteen years of age, but have a delibera- 
tive voice only at twenty-one years. 

7. The second chamber, called Chamber of Representatives, 
is elected by the people. 

8. The members of this chamber are in number six hun- 



474 A.ct Additional 

dred and twenty-nine. They must be at least twenty-five 
years of age. 

9. The president of the Chamber of Representatives is 
appointed by the chamber at the opening of the first session. 
He remains in office until the renewal of the chamber. His 
appointment is submitted to the approval of the Emperor. 

10. The Chamber of Representatives verifies the cre- 
dentials of its members and pronounces upon the validity of 
contested elections. 

11. The members of the Chamber of Representatives re- 
ceive for the expenses of travel and during the session the 
compensation decreed by the Constituent Assembly. 

12. They are iiidefinitely re-eligible. 

13. The Chamber of Representatives is of right renewed 
entire every five years. 

14. No member of either chamber can be arrested, saving 
in the case of flagrante delicto, nor prosecuted for a crimi- 
nal or correctional matter, during the sessions, except in vir- 
tue of a resolution of the chamber of which he is a part. 

15. None can be arrested or imprisoned for debts from the 
beginning of the convocation nor for forty days after the 
session. 

16. Peers are tried by their chamber in criminal and cor- 
rectional matters in the forms which shall be regulated by law. 

17. The character of peer or of representative is compat- 
ible with any public position, except those of accountants. 

Nevertheless, the prefects and sub-prefects cannot be 
elected by the electoral college of the department or the dis- 
trict which they administer. 

18. The Emperor sends into the chamber ministers of 
state and councillors of state, who sit there and take part 
in the discussions, but have a deliberative voice only in case 
they are members of the chamber as peers or as representatives 
of the people. 

10. The ministers who are members of the Chamber of 
Peers or of that of the representatives, or who sit by direction 
of the government, give to the chambers the explanations 
which are deemed necessary when their publicity does not 
compromise the interest of the state. 

20. The sittings of the two chambers are public. Never- 
theless they can form themselves into secret committee, the 



Act Additional 475 

Chamber of Peers upon the request of ten members, that of 
the representatives upon the request of twenty-five. The gov- 
ernment can also require secret committees for communica- 
tions which it has to make. In anj^ case the decisions and the 
votes can take place only in public session. 

21. The Emperor can prorogue, adjourn and dissolve the 
Chamber of Representatives. The proclamation which pro- 
nounces the dissolution convokes the electoral colleges for a 
new election, and directs the meeting of the representatives 
within six months at the latest. 

22. During the interval between sessions of the Chamber 
of Representatives, or in case of dissolution of that chamber, 
the Chamber of Peers cannot assemble. 

23. The government has the proposing of the laws ; the 
chambers can propose amendments ; if these amendments are 
not adopted by the government, the chambers are required to 
vote upon the law as it has been proposed. 

24. The chambers have the power to invite the govern- 
ment to propose a law upon a defined subject and to draw up 
what seems to it suitable to insert in the law. This request 
may be made by each of the two chambers. 

25. When a bill is adopted in one of the two chambers, it 
is sent to the other; and if it is approved there, it is sent to 
the Emperor. 

26. No written speech, except reports of commissions, re- 
ports of the ministers upon the laws which are presented and 
the accounts which are rendered, can be read in either of the 
chambers. 

Title II. Of the Electoral Colleges and of the Manner of 
Election. 

27. The department and district electoral colleges are 
maintained, in conformity with the senatus-consultum of 16 
Thermidor, Year X, except for the modifications that follow. 

28. The cantonal assemblies shall fill each year by annual 
elections all the vacancies in the electoral colleges. 

29. Dating from the year 1816, a member of the Chamber 
of Peers, designated bj' the Emperor, shall be president, for 
life and irremovable, of each department electoral college. 

30. Dating from the same time, the electoral college of each 



476 Act Additional 

department shall appoint from among the members of each 
district college, the president and two vice-presidents. For 
this purpose the meeting of the department college shall pre- 
cede that of the district college by fifteen days. 

31. The colleges of the department and of the district 
shall appoint the number of representatives fixed for each by 
the act and the table herewith annexed, number one. 

32. Representatives may be chosen without distinction 
of residence from the whole extent of France. 

Each department or district college which shall choose 
a representative outside of the department or the district shall 
select a substitute, who shall be taken necessarily from within 
the department or the district. 

33. Industry and manufacturing and commercial property 
shall have a special representation. 

The election of the commercial and manufacturing repre=- 
sentatives shall be made by the electoral college of the depart- 
ment out of a list of eligibles prepared by the chamber of 
commerce and the consultative chambers assembled together, 
according to the act and table herewith annexed. 

Title III, Of the Law of Taxation. 

34. The general direct tax, upon either real estate or per- 
sonal property, is voted only for one year ; the indirect taxes 
can be voted for several years. 

In case of the dissolution of the Chamber of Representa- 
tives, the taxes voted in the preceding session are continued 
until the new meeting of the chamber. 

35. No direct or indirect tax, in money or in kind, can be 
collected, no loan can be made, no entry of credits upon the 
ledgers of the public debt can be made, no domain can be 
alienated or exchanged, no levy of men for the army can be 
ordered, no portion of the territory can be exchanged, except 
m virtue of a ]aw. 

36. No proposal for taxation, loan or the levy of men, can 
be made except by the Chamber of Representatives. 

37. To the Chamber of Representatives also is first 
brought: ist, the general budget of the state, containing the 
estimate of the receipts and the amount of money proposed 
to be assigned for the year to each department of the ministry; 



Act Additional 477 

2d, the account of the receipts and expenses of the year or the 
preceding years. 

Title IV. Of the Ministers and of Responsibility. 

38. All the acts of the government must be countersigned 
by a minister having a department. 

39. The ministers are responsible for the acts of the gov- 
ernment signed by them, as well as for the execution of the 
laws. 

40. They can be accused by the Chamber of Representatives 
and are tried by that of the peers. 

41. Any minister or any commander of the army or navy 
can be accused by the Chamber of Representatives and tried 
by the Chamber of Peers for having compromised the safety 
or the honor of the nation. 

42. The Chamber of Peers in this case exercises a discre- 
tionary power, either to characterise the offence or to inflict 
the penalty. 

43. Before pronouncing for the indictment of a minister, 
the Chamber of Representatives must declare that there is oc- 
casion to investigate the proposal of accusation. 

44. This declaration can be made only after the report 
of a commission of sixty members drawn by lot. This com- 
mission does not make its report sooner than ten days after 
its appointment. 

45. When the chamber has declared that there is occasion 
to investigate, it can call before it the minister to ask for 
explanations from him. This call cannot take place until ten 
days after the report of the commission. 

46. In no other case can ministers having departments be 
called or sent for by the chambers. 

47. When the Chamber of Representatives has declared 
that there is occasion to investigate a minister, there is formed 
a new commission of sixty members, drawn by lot, as wa? thd 
first, and this commission makes a new report upon the in- 
dictment. This commission cannot make its report until .ten 
days after its appointment. 

48. The indictment cannot be pronounced until ten days 
after the reading and the distribution of the report. 

49. The accusation being pronounced, the Chamber of Rep- 



478 Act Additional 

resentatives appoints five commissioners taken from its body, 
to prosecute the accusation before the Chambers of Peers. 

50. Article 75 of title viii of the constitutional act of 22 
Frimaire, Year VIII, providing that the agents of the g'ov- 
ernment can be prosecuted only in virtue of a decision of the 
Council of State, shall be altered by a law. 

Title V, Of the Judicial Power. 

51. The Emperor appoints all the judges. They are irre- 
movable, and are appointed for the remainder of their lives, 
except the appointments of justices of the peace and judges of 
commerce, which shall take place as in the past. The present 
judges appointed by the Emperor upon the terms of the se- 
natus-consultum of October 12, 1807, and whom he shall think 
proper to retain, shall receive life nominations before the first 
of January next. 

52. The jury system is retained. 

53. Trials in criminal matters are public. 

54. Military offences only are under the jurisdiction of 
the military tribunals. 

55. All other offences, even if committed by soldiers, are 
under the jurisdiction of the civil tribunals. 

56. All crimes and offences over which the imperial high 
court had jurisdiction and the trial of which is not reserved by 
the present act to the Chamber of Peers, shall be brought be- 
fore the ordinary tribunals. 

57. The Emperor has the right to pardon, even in correc- 
tional matters, and to grant amnesties. 

58. The interpretations of the laws asked for by the court 
of cassation shall be given in the form of a law. 

Title VL Rights of Citizens. 

59. Frenchmen are equal before the law, whether for con- 
tribution to public taxes and charges, or for admission to civil 
and military employments. 

60. No one under any pretext can be deprived of the judges 
who are assigned to him by law. 

61. No one can be prosecuted, arrested, detained or exiled 
except in the cases provided for by law and according to the 
prescribed forms. 

62. Liberty of worship is guaranteed to all. 



Act Additional 479 

63. All property possessed or acquired by virtue of the 
laws, and all state-credits, are inviolable. 

64. Every citizen has the right to print and publish his 
thoughts in signed form, without any prior censorship, subject 
to legal responsibilty, after publication, by jury trial, even 
when there may be occasion for the application of only a correc- 
tional penalty. 

65. The right of petition is secured to all citizens. Every 
petition is individual. These petitions can be addressed either 
10 the government or to the two chambers : but these last 
also must be entitled: To his Majesty the Emperor. They 
shall be presented to the chambers under the guarantee of a 
member who recommends the petition. They are read pub- 
licly; and if the chamber takes them into consideration, they 
are brought to the Emperor by the president. 

66. No place nor any part of the territory can be declared 
in a state of siege, except in the case of invasion on the part 
of a foreign force, or of civil disturbances. 

In the first case, the declaration is made by an act of the 
government. 

In the second case, it can be made only by a law. 

Yet, the case occurring, if the chambers are not assembled, 
the act of the government declaring the state of siege must 
be converted into a proposal for a law within the first fifteen 
days of the meeting of the chambers. 

67. The French people declare that, in the delegation which. 
it has made and which it makes of its powers, it has not in- 
tended and does not intend to give the right to propose the 
re-establishment of the Bourbons or any prince of that fam- 
ily upon the throne, even in the case of the extinction of the 
imperial dynasty, nor the right to re-establish either the an- 
cient feudal nobility, or the feudal and seignioral rights, or the 
tithes, or any privileged and ruling worship, or the power to 
bring any attack upon the irrevocability of the sale of the na- 
tional domains ; it especially forbids to the government, the 
chambers and the citizens any proposition of this kind. 

[The tables mentioned in articles 31 and 33 are omitted. 
These tables regulated the apportionment of the deputies.] 



480 Treaty of Paris 

99. Treaty o£ Paris. 

November 20, ]815. Hertslet, Map of Europe by Treaty, 342- 
350. 

This troaty contains tlie terms imposed upon France by the 
allies at the end of the Hundred Days. By comparing it with the 
treaty 01 the previoub year (JSo. 91) a large part of what that 
episode cost France can be ascertained. 

Refeebnces. Fyffe, Modern Europe, II, 60-63 (Popular ed., 
406-108) ; Andrews, MoUern Europe, 1, 111-113; Seignobos, Eu- 
rope i<inci; If^lJ/, 113-114; Cutnbri.iJcje Modern History, IX, 663- 
666 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire generale, IX, 930-931 ; Sorel, 
L'Europe et la revolution fran<;aise , VIII, 469-481, 490; Jaures, 
HiNtoire socialiste, YII, 76-80. 

In the Name of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity. 

The allied powers having by their united efforts, and by 
the success of their arms, preserved France and Europe from 
the convulsions with which they were menaced by the late 
enterprise of Napoleon Bonaparte, and by the revolutionary 
system reproduced in France, to promote its success : par- 
ticipating at present with His Most Christian Majesty in the 
desire to consolidate, by maintaining inviolate the royal au- 
thority, and by restoring the operation of the Constitutional 
Charter, the order of things which had been happily re-estab- 
lished in France, as also in the object of restoring between 
France and her neighbours those relations of reciprocal confi- 
dence and good will which the fatal effects of the revolution 
and of the system of conquest had for so long a time dis- 
turbed; persuaded, at the same time, that this last object 
can only be obtained by an arrangement framed to secure to 
the allies proper indemnities for the past and solid guarantees 
for the future, they have, in concert with His Majesty the 
King of France, taken into consideration the means of giving 
effect to this arrangement; and being satisfied that the indem- 
nity due to the allied powers cannot be either entirely terri- 
torial or entirely pecuniary, without prej udice to France in one 
or other of her essential interests, and that it would be more 
fit to combine both the modes, in order to av'oid the incon- 
venience which would result, were either resorted to sepa- 
rately, their Imperial and Royal Majesties have adopted this 
basis for their present transactions ; and agreeing alike as to 
the necessity of retaining for a fixed time in the frontier prov- 
inces of France, a certain number of allied troops, they have 



Treaty of Paris 481 

determined to combine their different arrangements, founded 
upon these bases, in a definitive treaty. 

I. The frontiers of France shall be the same as they were 
in the year 1790, save and except the modifications on one 
side and on the other, which are detailed in the present article. 

[This line is indicated in the maps facing p. 350 of Herts- 
let, Map of Europe by Treaty.] 

4. The pecuniary part of the indemnity to be furnished 
by France to the allied powers is fixed at the sum of 700,- 
000,000 francs. . . . 

5. The state of uneasiness and fermentation, which after 
so many violent convulsions, and particularly after the last 
catastrophe, France must still experience, notwithstanding the 
paternal intentions of her king,' and the advantages secured 
to every class of his subjects by the Constitutional Charter, 
requiring for the security of the neighbouring states, certain 
measures of precaution and of temporary guarantee, it has 
been judged indispensable to occupy, during a fixed time, by 
a corps of allied troops certain military positions along the 
frontiers of France, under the express reserve, that such 
occupation shall in no way prejudice the sovereignty of His 
Most Christian Majesty, nor the state of possession, such as 
it is recognized and confirmed by the present treaty. The 
number of these troops shall not exceed 150,000 men. . . . 
As tlie maintenance of the army destined for this service is 
to be provided by France, a special convention shall reg- 
ulate everything which may relate to that object. . . . The 
utmost extent of the duration of this military occupation is 
fixed at 5 years. It may terminate before that period if, af 
the end of 3 years, the allied sovereigns, after having, in con- 
cert with His Majesty the King of France, maturely examined 
their material situation and interests, and the progress which 
shall have been made in France in the re-establishment of or- 
der and tranquility, shall agree to acknowledge that the mo- 
tives which led them to that measure have ceased to exist. 
But whatever m.ay be the result of this deliberation, all the 
fortresses and positions occupied by the allied troops shall, at 
the expiration of 5 years, be evacuated without further delay, 



482 Treaty of Alliance against France 

and given up to His Most Christian Majesty, or to his heirs 
and successors. 

II. The treaty of Paris of the 30th of May, 1814, and 
the final act of the Congress of Vienna of the 9th of June, 
1815, arc confirmed, and shall be maintained in all such of 
their enactments which shall not have been modified by the 
articles of the present treaty. 



100. Treaty of Alliance against France. 

November -0, 1815. liertslet, M^ap of Europe iy Trealy, 372- 
375. 

This secret treaty was signed at Faris on the same day as the 
treaty of peace with France fNo. 99). It shows what Europe 
still feared from B^'raace and the measures which the allies be- 
lieved to be necessary in order to avert that danger. It is also 
important in c(>nnection with that concert of powers later known 
as the Holy Alliance. Its relacionship towards the Holy Alliance 
treaty of September 2G, 1815, and the actual alliance should re- 
ceive careful attention. 

REFior.EXCES. Fyflfe, Modern Europe. II, 63-66 (Popular ed., 
408-411) ; Andrews. Mo'lern Europe, I, 117-121 : Camhridge Mod- 
ern History, IX. 666, X, 10-12 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire 
generale, X, 65-68 ; Sorel, L'Europe et la revolution francaise, VIII, 
490-492. 

In the Name of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity. 
The purpose of the alliance concluded at Vienna the 25th 
day of March, 1815, having been happily attained by the re- 
establishment in France of the order of things which the last 
criminal attempt of Napoleon Bonaparte had momentarily' 
subverted; Their Majesties the King of the United Kingdom 
of Great Britain and Ireland, the Emperor of Austria. King 
of Hungary and Bohemia, the Emperor of all the Russias, 
and the King of Prussia, considering that the repose of Europe 
is essentially interwoven with the confirmation of the order 
of things founded on the maintenance of the royal author- 
ity and the Constitutional Charter, and wishing to employ 
all their means to prevent the general tranquility (the object 
of the wishes of mankind and the constant end of their 
efforts), from being again disturbed; desirous moreover to 
draw closer the ties which unite them for the common inter- 



Treaty of Alliance against France 483 

ests of their people, have resolved to give to the principles 
solemnly laid down in the treaties of Chaumont of the ist 
March, 1814, and of Vienna of the 25th of March, 1815, the 
application the most analogous to the present state of affairs, 
and to fix beforehand by a solemn treaty the principles which 
they propose to follow, in order to guarantee Europe from dan- 
gers by which she may still be menaced; . . . 

1. The high contracting parties reciprocally promise to 
maintain, in its force and vigour, the treaty signed this day 
with His Most Christian Majesty, and to see that the stipula- 
tions of the said treaty, as well as those of the particular con- 
ventions which have reference thereto, shall be strictly and 
faithfuly executed in their fullest extent. 

2. The high contracting parties, having engaged in the 
war which has just terminated for the purpose of maintain- 
ing inviolably the arrangements settled at Paris last year, for 
the safety and interest of Europe, have judged it advisable 
to renew the said engagements by the present act, and to 
confirm them as mutually obligatory, subject to the modifica- 
tions contained in the treaty signed this day with the plen- 
ipotentiaries of His Most Christian Majesty, and particularly 
those by which Napoleon Bonaparte and his family in pur- 
suance of the Treaty of the nth of April, 1814, have been 
forever excluded from supreme power in France, which ex- 
clusion the contracting powers bind themselves, by the pres- 
ent act, to maintain in full vigour, and, should it be necessary, 
with the whole of their forces. And as the same revolution- 
ary principles which upheld the last criminal usurpation, might 
again, under other forms, convulse France, and thereby en- 
danger the repose of other states; under these circumstances, 
the high contracting parties solemnly admitting it to be 
their duty to redouble their watchfulness for the tranquility 
and interests of their people, engage, in case so unfortunate 
an event should again occur, to concert among themselves, 
and with His Most Christian Majesty, the measures which 
they may judge necessary to be pursued for the safety of their 
respective states, and for the general tranquility of Europe. 

3. The high contracting parties, in agreeing with His 
Most Christian Majests' that a line of military positions in 
France should be occupied by a corps of allied troops during 



484 Treaty of Alliance against France 

a certain number of years, had in view to secure, as far as 
lay in their power, the effect of the stipulations contained in 
articles i and 2 of the present treaty, and uniformly disposed 
to adopt every salutary measure calculated to secure the 
tranquility of Europe by maintaining the order of things re-es- 
tablished in France, they engage, in case the said body of troops 
should be attacked or menaced with an attack on the part of 
France, that the said powers should be again obliged to place 
themselves on a war establishment against that power, in or- 
der to maintain either of the said stipulations, or to secure 
and support the great interests to which they relate, each of 
the high contracting parties shall furnish, without delay, ac- 
cording to the stipulations of the treaty of Chaumont, and 
especially in pursuance of articles 7 and 8 of that treaty, its 
full contingent of 60,000 men, in addition to the forces left in 
France, or such part of the said contingent as the exigency 
of the case may require, should be put in motion. 

4. If, unfortunately, the forces stipulated in the preceding 
article should be found insufficient, the high contracting par- 
ties will concert together, without loss of time, as to the ad- 
ditional number of troops to be furnished by each for the 
support of the common cause; and they engage to employ, in 
case of need, the whole of their forces, in order to bring the 
war to a speedy and successful termination, reserving to them- 
selves the right to prescribe, by common consent, such condi- 
tions of peace as shall hold out to Europe a sufficient guaran- 
tee against the recurrence of a similar calamity. 

5. The high contracting parties having agreed to the dis- 
positions laid down in the preceding articles, for the purpose 
of securing the effect of their engagements during the period 
of the temporary occupation, declare, moreover, that even 
after the expiration of this measure, the said engagements 
shall still remain in full force and vigour, for the purpose of 
carrying into effect such measures as may be deemed neces- 
sary for the maintenance of the stipulations contained in 
articles i and 2 of the present act. 

6. To facilitate and to secure the execution of the present 
treaty, and to consolidate the connections which at the pres- 
ent moment so closely unite the four sovereigns for the hap- 
piness of the world, the high contracting parties have agreed 
to renew their meetings at fixed periods, either under the im- 



Press Laws of the Restoration 485 

mediate auspices of the sovereigns themselves, or by their re- 
spective ministers, for the purpose of consulting upon their 
common interests, and for the consideration of the measures 
which at each of those periods shall be considered the most 
salutary for the repose and prosperity of nations, and for the 
maintenance of the peace of Europe. 



101. Press Laws and Ordinances of the 
Restoration. 



The political battles 01 tlie restoration period. 1815-1830, cen- 
tered largely about the regulation of the press and the method of 
electing the deputies. With each pronounced change of general 
policy there was usually some alteration of the measures regu- 
lating one or both of these matters. These documents according- 
ly throw light upon both the fluctuations of general policy and 
the measures taken for the control of the press. Document A 
was one of the "'liberal'' press laws of 1819 ; B represents the re- 
action followiitg the assassination of the Duke of Berry ; C exhib- 
its the still more pronounced reactionary policy of the Villfele 
ministry ; while D, which was promulgated after an even more 
repressive measure than C had been rejected by the Chamber of 
Peers, shows how th:i ordinance-making power of the king was 
used to put in operation a more reactionary policy than the 
Chambers would sanction. 

References. Seignobos, Europe Since ISl.',, 120-125. passim; 
Andrews, Modern Europe. I. 150-166. passim : Camhridqe Modern 
Historii, X. 551-60. 63, 77. 89-00 ; Lavisse and Rambaud. Histoire 
generalc, X, 107-109, 111, 115, 131-133; Rambaud. Cirilisation 
coiitej/iporaine, 330-332; Jaur&s, Histoire socialiste, VII, 134, 146- 
147, 180-182, 215-218. 

A. Law upon the Press. June 9, 1819. Duvergier, Lois. 
XXII. 165-166. 

I. The proprietors or editors of any newspaper or period- 
ical work, devoted in whole or in part to news or political 
matters, and appearing, either on a fixed day or in parts, or 
irregularly but more than once per m.onth, shall be required, 

1st. To make a declaration setting' forth the name of at 
least one proprietor or responsible editor, his residence , and 
the duly authorised printing office at which the newspaper or 
periodical work must be printed ; 

2d. To furnish a money deposit which shall be, in the 
departments of the Seine, Seine-et-Oise and Seine-et.Marne, 
ten thousand francs of yearly income for daily newspapers, 



486 Press Laws of the Restoration 

and live thousand francs of yearly income for newspapers 
or periodical works appearing at less frequent intervals ; 

And in the other departments, the money deposit for daily 
newspapers shall be two thousand five hundred francs of 
rentes in cities of fifty thousand souls and upwards; fifteen 
hundred francs of rentes in the cities below [fifty thousand] ; 
and of half these rentes for newspapers or periodical works 
which appear at less frequent intervals. 

2. The responsibility of the authors or editors named in 
the declaration shall extend to all the articles inserted in the 
newspaper or periodical work, without prejudice to the joint 
liability of the authors or writers of the said articles. 

5. At the moment of the publication of each sheet or part 
of a newspaper or periodical work a copy thereof, signed by 
a proprietor or responsible editor, shall be sent to the prefec- 
ture in the head-towns of the departments, to the subprefec- 
ture in those of the district, and in the others, to the mairie. 

This fonnality shall not delay nor suspend the dispatching 
or distribution of the newspaper or periodical work. 

6. Whoever shall publish a newspaper or periodical work 
without complying vv^ith the conditions prescribed by articles 
I, 4 and 5 of the present law shall be punished correctionally 
with an imprisonment of from one month to six months and 
a fine of from two hundred francs to twelve hundred francs. 

7. The editors of any newspaper or periodical work shall 
not render an account of the secret sessions of the chambers, 
nor of one of them, without their authorisation. 

9. The proprietors or responsible editors of a newspaper 
or periodical work, or the authors or writers of articles print- 
ed in the said newspaper or work, accused of crimes or offences 
for act of publication, shall be prosecuted and tried in the 
forms and according to the distinctions prescribed with re- 
spect to all other publications. 

B. Law upon the Press. March 31, 1820. Duvergier, 
Lois, XXII, 409-410. 

I. The free publication of newspapers and periodical works 
devoted in whole or in part to news and to political matters, 



Press Laws of the Restoration 487 

and appearing either at a fixed day or irregularly and by parts, 
is temporarily suspended until the term hereinafter fixed. 

2. None of the said newspapers and periodical works can 
be published except with the authorisation of the king. 

However, the actually existing newspapers and periodical 
works shall continue to appear, upon conforming with the pro- 
visions of the present law. 

3. The authorisation required by the preceding article can 
be accorded only to those which shall prove that they have 
conformed with the conditions prescribed in article i of the 
law of June 9, 1819. 

4. Before the publication of any sheet or part, the manu- 
script must be submitted, by the proprietor or responsible ed- 
itor, to a prior examination. 

5. Any proprietor or responsible editor who may have 
caused to be printed a sheet or a part of a newspaper or peri- 
odical work without having communicated it to the censor 
before printing, or who may have inserted in one of the said 
sheets or parts an article not communicated or not approved, 
shall be punished correctionally by an imprisonment of from 
one month to six months, and by a fine of from two hundred 
francs to twelve hundred francs, without prejudice to the pros- 
ecutions to which the contents of these sheets, parts and ar- 
ticles may give occasion. 

6. "When a proprietor or responsible editor shall be pros- 
ecuted in virtue of the preceding article, the government can 
pronounce the suspension of the newspaper or periodical 
work until the judicial decision. 

7. Upon inspection of the judgment of condemnation, the 
government can prolong for a term which shall not exceed six 
months, the suspension of the said newspaper or periodical 
work. In case of repetition it can pronounce definitively the 
suppression thereof. 

8. No printed, engraved or lithographic design can be 
published, exposed, distributed or put on sale, without the 
prior authorisation of the government. 

Those who may contravene this provision shall be pun- 
ished with the penalties provided in article 5 of the present 
■law. 

9. The provisions of the laws of May 17, May 26, and 



488 Press Laws of the Restoration 

June 9, i8ig, in which there is no alteration by the above 
Eirticles shall continue to be executed. 

10. The present law of right shall cease to have its effect 
at the end of the session of 1825. 

C. Law upon the Press. March 17, 1822. Duvergier, 
Lois, XXin, 478-480. 

1. No newspaper or periodical work, devoted in whole or 
in part to news or to political matters, and appearing either 
regularly and at a fixed day, or by parts and irregularly, can 
be established and published without the authorisation of the 
king. 

This provision is not applicable to the newspapers and pe- 
riodical works existing January i, 1822. 

2. The first copy of each sheet or part of periodical works 
and nevvspapers, at the very instant of its issue from the press, 
shall be dispatched to and deposited at the office of the pro- 
cureur of the king of the place of printing. This remittance 
shall take the place of that which was prescribed by article 
5 of the law of June 9, 1819. 

3. In the case in which the spirit of a newspaper or 
periodical work, resulting from a succession of articles, may 
be of a nature to constitute an attack upon the public peace, 
the respect due to the religion of the state or other religions 
legally recognized in France, the authority of the king, the 
stability of the constitutional institutions, the inviolability of 
the sales of the national lands and the tranquil possession 
of these properties, the royal courts in the jurisdiction of which 
they shall be. established, in solemn audience of two chambers 
and after having heard the procureur-general and the parties, 
shall be able to pronounce the suspension of the newspaper 
or periodical work during a time which cannot exceed one 
month for the first time and three months for the second.' 
After these two suspensions, in case of new repetition, defin- 
itive suppression can be ordered. 

4. If, in the interval of the session of the chamber;'- 
grave circumstances should render momentarily insufficient the 
established measures of guarantee and repression, the laws of 
March 31. 1820. and of July 26, 1821, can be immediately put 
into operation again, in virtue of an ordinance of the king 
deliberated in Council of State and countersigned by three 
ministers. 



Keeper of the Seals Circular 489 

This provision ipso facto shall cease one month after the 
opening of the session of the two chambers, if, during that 
interval, it has not been converted into a law^. 

It, likewise ipso facto, shall cease the day on which may- 
be published an ordinance which pronounces the dissolution of 
the Chamber of. Deputies. 

5. The provisions of previous laws in which there is no 
alteration by the present shall continue to be executed. 

D. Royal Ordinance upon the Press. June 24, 1827. Du- 
vergier, Lois, XXVII, 290. 

Charles, etc., upon the report of our minister-secretary of 
state for the departm.ent of the interior, in view of our or- 
dinance of this day, concerning the putting in operation of the 
laws of M?.rch 31, 1820, and of July 26, 1821, relative to the 
publication of newspapers and periodical works, etc. 

1. There shall be at Paris, in the service of our minister- 
secretary of state for the department of the interior, a bureau 
charged with the prior examination of all newspapers and 
periodical works. 

2. This bureau shall be composed of six censors, who shall 
be appointed by us, upon the presentation of our minister- 
secretary of state of the interior. 

3. Every number of a newspaper or periodical work, before 
being printed, must have been furnished with the visa of this 
bureau, which shall authorise the publication thereof, in con- 
formity with article 5 of the law of March 31, 1820. 

6. In the departments, the prefects shall appoint, according 
to the needs, one or several censors charged with the prior 
examination of the newspapers which shall be published there. 



102. Circular of the Keeper of the Seals. 

About February 1, 1824. Moniteur, February 4, 1824. 

In February. 1824, a general election for members of the 
Chaml)er of Deputies occurred. The reactionary ministry then in 
office left no stone unturned in its efforts to secure a large major- 
ity favorable to itself. This document, which was sent to all of 
the prefects, illustrates the kind of methods employed by the min- 
istry in that election and is also typical of the manner in which 
the administrative officials were used throughout the period. The 
election produced an overwhelming majority for the ministry. 



490 Keeper of the Seals Circular 

rjKFEREXCES. Seignobos, Europe Since ISlif, 123 : Lavisse and 
Rambaud, Ilistoire {jenerale, X, 121-12U ; Jaures, Histoire social- 
iste, VII, 196-198. 

The king has deemed it useful for the welfare of the state 
to dissolve the Chamber of Deputies and to order the general 
elections. 

The experience which you have acquired in affairs will 
not permit you to misunderstand the aim of that measure, and 
the knowledge which you have of the interests of France and 
of your duties will have long since apprised you of the zeal 
which you ought to display in order to assure the success of it. 
Instability cannot be an isolated accident in the state. When 
the systems of the government change, it soon descends to 
the lowest grades of the scale of public employments ; and 
there is. no functionary or magistrate, whatever may be his 
rank or his employment, who ought not to desire for himself 
that the general administration should receive and preserve a 
uniform and constant direction. 

On the other hand, sir, the government confers public em- 
ployments only in order that it may be served and supported. 
Whoever accepts a place contracts at the same time an obliga- 
tion to consecrate his efforts, his talents, and his influence to 
the service of the government ; it is a contract of which reci- 
procity forms the bond.' If the government withdraws the 
place, the one who loses it recovers the right to dispose of 
himself and to regulate at his own will all the actions of his 
public life ; if the functionary refuses to the government the 
services which it expects of him. he betrays his fidelity and 
breaks voluntarily the compact of which the position that he 
fills has been the object and the condition. It is the most 
certain and the most irrevocable of abdications ; the govern- 
ment owes nothing further to one who does not render to it 
all that he owes it. 

Make haste, sir, to recall these truths to your deputies, the 
officers of the judicial police and the ministerial officials of 
your jurisdiction, all those, in a word, of whom the law has 
made you the overseer and guide. Say to them that I demand 
of them a loyal, active and effective co-operation. Prescribe 
for them a prudent and uniform conduct. Condemn without 
qualification all division in voting, of which the most certain 
effect would be to offer chances of success to the opposition. 



Dissolution of the Chamber 491 

Announce to them that you will be attentive to their proceed- 
ings, and be particular to fulfil that promise. I like to persuade 
myself that you will have only favorable reports to transmit 
to me, and that I myself shall have to transmit to them only 
thanks and eulogies. 

Receive, sir, assurance of a perfect consideration. 



103. Documents upon the Dissolution of 1830. 

The dissolution of tlie Cliambtr of Deputies in Marcli, 1830, 
and the election tiiat followed were the prelude to -the July Revo- 
lution. These documents bring out clearly the reason why Charles 
X dissolved the Chamber of Deputies and the issue presented at 
the election, which was a complete triumph for the opposition to 
the king. 

RiCFEKENCES. FylTc, Modern iJurope, II, 364-368 (Popular ed., 
608-61 1 1 : Seignobos, Europe Since ISl/f, 128; Andrews, Modern 
Europe. I, 170-173 : Camhridf/e Modern. History, X, 98-99 ; Lavisse 
and Rambaud, Ilistoire generale, X, 278-282 ; Jaures, Ilistoire so- 
cialiste, VII, 234-238. 

A. The King's Speech. March 2, 1830. Moniteur, March 
3. 1830. 

Gentlemen: 

It is always with confidence that I gather around my 
throne the peers of the kingdom and the deputies of the de- 
partments. 

Gentlemen, the first longing is to see France, happy and 
respected, develop all the wealth of its soil and its industry, and 
enjoy in peace the institutions whose advantages I have firm- 
ly determined to consolidate. The Charter has placed the public 
liberties under the safeguard of the rights of my crown : these 
rights are sacred ; my duty towards my people is to transmit 
them intact to my successors. 

Peers of France and deputies of the departments, I do not 
doubt of your co-operation in order to secure the gain which 
I wish to effect; you will repulse the perfidious insinuations 
which malevolence seeks to propagate. If culpable maneuvers 
raise up against my government obstacles which I do not wish 
to anticipate, I will find the power to surmount them in my 
resolution to maintain the public peace, in the just confidence 



492 Dissolution of the Chamber 

of Frenchmen and the love which they have always borne for 
their kings. 

B. Reply of the Chamber of Deputies. March i8, 1830. 
Moniteur, March 19, 1830. 

Sire, 

It is with an enduring gratification that your faithful sub- 
jects, the deputies of the departments, assembled around your 
throne, have heard from your august lips the flattering testi- 
mony of the confidence which you have accorded them. . . . 

Summoned by your voice from all points of your king- 
dom, we bring you from all parts, sire, the homage of a 
faithful people, once more aroused at having seen you the most 
beneficent of all in the midst of universal beneficence, and who 
revere in you the accomplished model of all the most touch- 
ing virtues. Sire, this people cherish and respect your author- 
ity; fifteen years of peace and of liberty, which they owe to 
your august brother and to you. have profoundly enrooted 
in their hearts the gratitude which attaches them to your 
royal family ; their reason, matured by experience and by lib- 
erty of discussion, says to them that it is especially in matters 
of authority that antiquity of possession is the most sacred of 
all titles, and that it is for their welfare as well as for your 
glory that the ages have placed your throne in a region inac- 
cessible to storms. Their convictions, then, are in accord with 
their duty in placing before themselves the most sacred rights 
of your crown as the surest guarantee of their liberties and 
the integrity of your prerogatives as necessary for the pres- 
ervation of these rights. 

Nevertheless, sire, in the midst of the unanimous senti- 
ments of respect and afi^ection with which your people sur- 
round you, there is manifested in, their minds a lively disquie- 
tude which disturbs the security that France had commenced 
to enjoy, affects the sources of its prosperity, and, if it should 
be prolonged, might become disastrous to its repose. Our 
conscience, our honor, the fidelity to you which we have sworn 
and which we shall always preserve, impose upon us the duty 
of disclosing to you the cause of this. 

Sire, the Charter, which we owe to the wisdom of your 
august predecessor, and the advantages of which Your Majesty 



Dissolution of the Chamber 493 

is firmly determined to consolidate, consecrates, as a right, 
the participation of the country in the deliberation upon public 
interests. That participation ought to be, and is in fact, in- 
direct, wisely measured and circumscribed within limits 
exactly traced, and which we shall never suffer that anyone 
should attempt to break ; but it is positive in its results ; for 
it is made by the permanent co-operation of the political 
views of your government with the wishes of your people, 
the indispensable condition of the regular progress of public 
affairs. Sire, our loyalty and our devotion to you condemn 
us to tell you that this co-operation does not exist. 

An unjust contempt for the sentiments and the reason of 
France is to-day the fundamental thought of the administra- 
tion. Your people are afflicted thereat, because it is injurious 
to them; they are disturbed thereat, because it is rnenacing to 
their liberties ! 

This contempt could not proceed from your noble heart. 
No, sire, France no more wishes for anarchy than you wish 
for despotism: it is fitting that you should have faith in its 
loyalty, as it has faith in your promises. 

Between those who misunderstand a nation so calm and so 
faithful and us, who with a profound conviction come to set 
forth in your presence the grievances of a people anxious above 
everything else for the esteem and confidence of their king, let 
the lofty wisdom of Your Majesty pronounce! His [your] 
royal prerogatives have placed in his [your] hands the means 
of assuring among the powers of the state that constitutional 
harmony the first and necessary condition of the power of the 
throne and of the grandeur of France. 

C. Response of the King. March 18, 1830. Moniteur, 
March 19, 1830. 

Sir, I have heard the address which you present me in 
the name of the Chamber of Deputies. 

I have a right to count upon the co-operation of the two 
chambers in order to accomplish all of the good which I was 
meditating; my heart is afflicted at seeing the deputies of the 
departments declare that on their part that co-operation does 
not exist. 

Gentlemen, I have announced my determinations in my 
discourse at the opening of the session. Those determina- 



494 Dissolution of the Chamber 

lions are immovable; the interest of my people forbids me to 
depart therefrom. 

My ministers will make known to you my intentions. 

D. Proclamation of the King. June 13, 1830. Duvergier, 
Lois, XXX, 56. 

Charles, by the grace of God, King of France and of Na- 
varre, to all those to whom these presents shall come, greet- 
ing. 

Frenchmen, 

The late Chamber of Deputies misconceived my intentions. 
I had the right to count upon its co-operation in order to ac- 
complish the good which I was meditating : it refused that to 
me! As father of my people, my heart is afflicted thereat; 
as king, I have been offended at it : I have pronounced the 
dissolution of that chamber. 

Frenchmen, your prosperity constitutes my glory ; your 
welfare is mine. At the moment in which the electoral col- 
leges are about to open at all points of my kingdom, you 
will hear the voice of your king. 

To maintain the Constitutional Charter and the institutions 
which it has founded has been and ever shall be the aim of 
my efforts. 

But, in order to attain that aim, I ought to exercise that 
judgment freely and to make respected the sacred rights which 
are the appanage of my crown. 

It is in them that the guarantee of the public reposes and 
of your liberties lies. The nature of the government would 
be altered, if culpable attacks should enfeeble my prerog'a- 
tives, and I would betray my oaths if I should suffer it. 

Under the shelter of this government, France has become 
flourishing and free. She owes to it her liberties, her credit 
and her industry. France has nothing to envy in other states, 
and can aspire only to the preservation of the advantages 
which she enjoys. 

Reassure yourselves then about your rights. I blend them 
with mine, and I will protect them with an equal solicitude. 

Do not allow yourselves to be led astray through the lan- 
guage of the insidious enemies of your repose. Repel un- 
worthy suspicions and false fears, which would disturb public 
confidence and might excite grave disorders. 



July Revolution 495 

The designs of those who propagate these fears will fail, 
whoever they may be, before my immovable resolution. Your 
security and your interests shall no more be compromised 
than your liberties; I watch over the one as over the others. 

Electors, make haste to gather in your colleges. Do not 

let a reprehensible negligence deprive them of your presence ! 

Let a single sentiment animate you, let a single flag rally you ! 

It is your king who asks it of you ; it is a father who calls 

•you. 

Fulfil your duties ; I shall know how to fulfil mine. 

Given at our chateau of the Tuileries, the 13th day of the 
month . of June of the year of grace, 1830, and of our reign 
the sixth. 

Signed, Charles. 



104. Documents upon the July Revolution. 

The July Kevolution passed through three quite distinct phas- 
es. Tn the first phase it was simply a protest against the July 
Ordinances and the popular cries were "Vive la Charte," "Down 
with the ministers," In the second phase it became a movement 
for the overthrow of the Bourbon monarchy and the popular cry 
was "Down with the Bourbons." In the third phase it became 
a movement to make Louis Philippe king and the popular cry was 
"Vive Louis Philippe." Documents, A, B and C throw light upon 
the first phase, the remainder upon the third phase. From the 
documents much can be learned about the causes for the unpopu- 
larity of tht; Bourbon regime, why the candidacy of Louis Philippe 
was favorably i-eccived, and the real character of the change ef- 
fected by the revolution. 

RiJFBRENCES. Fyfi'e, Modern Europe, II, 368-379 (Popular ed., 
611-618); Seignobos. Europe Since ISU, 129-132; Andi-ews, llod- 
ern Europe, I, 173-179 : Cambridge Modern History, X, 99-100, 
475-479 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire generate, X, 282-292 ; 
Jaur&s, Histoire sccialistc, VII, 239-255. 



A. The July Ordinances, July 25, 1830. Duvergier, Lois, 
XXX, 74-78. 

I. Ordinance for Suspending Liberty of the Press. 

Charles, etc. 

Upon the report of our council of ministers, 

We have ordained and do ordain as follows: 

1st. The liberty of the periodical press is suspended. 



496 July Revolution 

2d. The provisions of articles i, 2, and 9 of the ist title 
of the law of October 2, 1814, are again put in force. 

In consequence, no newspaper or periodical or semi-peri- 
odical work, established or to be established, without discrim- 
ination as to the matters which shall be treated therein, shall 
appear, either in Paris or in the departments, except in virtue 
of an authorisation, which the authors and the printer thereof 
shall have separately obtained from us. 

This authorisation must be renewed every three months. 

It can be revoked. 

3d. The authorisation can be provisionally granted and 
provisionally withdrawn by the prefects for newspapers and 
periodicals or semi-periodical works published or to be pub- 
lished in their departments. 

4th. Newspapers and works published in contravention of 
article 2, shall be immediately seized. 

The presses and the type which shall have been used for 
their printing shall be placed in a public repository under 
seal or put out of service. 

5th. No work of less than twenty printed sheets can ap- 
pear without the authorisation of our minister-secretary of 
state of the interior at Paris, and of the prefects in the de- 
partments. 

Any work of mere than twenty printed pages which does 
not constitute a connected work, shall likewise be subject to 
the necessity of authorisation. 

Works published without authorisation shall be immediate- 
ly seized. 

The presses and type which shall have been used for 
their printing shall be placed in a public repository under 
seal or put out of service. 

6th. Proceedings upon law suits and the transactions of 
scientific or literary societies are subject to prior authorisa- 
tion, if they treat in whole or in part of political matters, in 
which case the measures prescribed in article 5 shall be ap- 
plicable to them. 

7th. Any provision contrary to the present [provisions] 
shall remain without force. 

8th. The execution of the present ordinance shall take 
place in conformity with article 4 of the ordinance of No- 



July Revolution 497 

vember 27, 1S16, and of what is prescribed by that of Janu- 
ary 18, 1817. 

9th. Our ministers-secretaries of state are charged, etc. 

II. Ordinance for Dissolving the Chamber of Deputies. 

Charles, etc. 

In view of article 50 of the Constitutional Charter; 

Being informed of the maneuvers which have been prac- 
tised as many points in our kingdom in order to deceive and 
mislead the electors during the late operations of the electoral 
colleges; 

Our Council having been heard ; 

We have ordained and do ordain as follows : 

1st. The Chamber of Deputies of the departments is dis- 
solved. 

2d. Our minister-secretary of state of the interior (Count 
de Peyronnet) is charged, etc. 

III. Ordinance upon the Elections. 

Charles, etc. 

Having resolved to prevent the recurrence of the maneuvers 
which have exercised a pernicious influence during the late 
proceedings of the electoral bodies ; 

Wishing, therefore, to reform, in accordance with the prin- 
ciples of the Constitutional Charter, the rules of election of 
which experience has made the inconveniences felt; 

We have recognized the necessity of making use of the 
right which belongs to us, to provide, by acts emanating from 
us, for the safety of the state and for the repression of any 
enterprise attacking the dignity of our crown; 

For these reasons. 

Our Council having been heard, 

We ordain and do ordain as follows : 

1st. In conformity with articles 15, 36 and 50 of the Con- 
stitutional Charter, the Chamber of Deputies shall be com- 
posed only of deputies of the departments. 

2d. The electoral property qualification and the property 
qualification for eligibility shall be composed exclusively of 
the sums for which the elector or eligible person shall be 
personally enrolled, in the capacity of proprietor or usufruc- 
tuary upon the roll of the land tax and of the personal prop- 
erty tax. 

3d. Each department shall have the nurtiber of deputies 



498 July Revolution 

which is assigned to it by article 36 of the Constitutional 
Charter. 

4th. The deputies shall be elected and the chamber shall 
be renewed in the form and for the time determined by ar- 
ticle 2)7 of the Constitutional Charter. 

5th. The. electoral colleges shall be divided into district col- 
leg'es and department colleges. 

Nevertheless the electoral colleges of the departments to 
which only one deputy is assigned are excepted. 

6th. The district electoral colleges shall be composed of all 
the electors whose political residence shall be established in 
the district. 

The department electoral colleges shall be composed of the 
fourth of the electors of the department who are most heavily 
taxed. 

7th. The existing circumscription of the district electoral 
colleges is maintained. 

8th. Each district electoral college shall elect a number 
of candidates equal to the number of the deputies of the de- 
partment. 

gth. The district college shall be divided into as many sec- 
tions as there are candidates to be selected. 

This division shall be made in proportion to the number of 
sections and to the total number of electors of the college, 
having regard therein," as far as shall be possible, to the con- 
venience of the localities and of the neighborhoods. 

loth. The sections of the district electoral college can be 
assembled in different places. 

nth. Each section of the district electoral college shall 
elect one candidate and shall proceed separately. 

12th. The presidents of the sections of the district elec- 
toral colleges shall be appointed by the prefects from among 
the electors of the district. 

15th. The department electoral college shall elect the dep- 
uties. 

Half the deputies of the department must be chosen from 
the general list of the- candidates proposed by the district 
electoral colleges. 

Nevertheless, if the number of deputies of the department 
'is odd, the division shall be made without abatement of the 
right reserved to the college of the department. 



July Revolution 499 

14th. In the case where, by reason of omissions, invalid 
nominations, or double nominations, the list of candidates pro- 
posed by the electoral bodies of the district may be incom- 
plete, if this list is reduced to less than half the required num- 
ber, the department electoral college can elect one more deputy 
from outside of the list; if the list is reduced to less than a 
quarter, the department college can elect from outside of the 
list the total number of the depitties of the department. 

i5Lh. The prefects, sub-prefects and general officers com- 
manding the military division and the departments cannot 
be elected in the departments in which they exercise their 
functions. 

i6th. The list of the electors shall be drawn up by the 
prefect in the council of prefecture. It shall be posted five 
days before the meetmg of the colleges. 

17th. Complaints with regard to the right of voting to 
which justice has not been done by the prefects shall be 
judged by the Chamber of Deputies, at the same time that it 
decides on the validity of the proceedings of the college. 

i8th. In the department electoral colleges the two most 
aged electors and the two most heavily taxed shall discharge 
the duties of tellers. 

The same arrangement shall be observed in the sections 
of the district colleges composed of more than fifty electors. 

In the other college sections the duties of teller shall be 
discharged by the most aged and by the most heavily taxed 
of the electors. 

The secretary in the colleges and college sections shall be 
appointed by the president and the tellers. 

19th. Nobody shall be admitted into the college or college 
section, unless he is registered upon the list of the electors 
who have a right to participate therein. This list shall be 
sent to the president and shall remain posted in the place of 
the meetings of the college during the continuance of its pro- 
ceedings. 

20th. All discussion and all deliberation whatsoever in 
the midst of the electoral colleges shall be forbidden. 

2ist. The policing of the college belongs to the president. 
Without his request no armed force can be stationed near the 
place where the sittings are held. Military commanders shall 
be required to comply with his requests. 



500 July Revolution 

22d. The nominations shall be made in the colleges and 
college sections by a majority of the votes cast. 

Nevertheless, if the selections are not decided after two 
ballots, the bureau shall draw up a list of the persons who 
have obtained the most votes at the second ballot. .It shall 
contain a number of names double that of the selections which 
shall stil! remain to be made. At the third ballot votes can 
be given only for the persons enrolled upon this list, and 
the selection shall be made by plurality. 

23d. The electors shall vote by ballot. Each ballot shall 
contain as many names as there are selections to be made. 

24th. The electors shall write their vote at the desk or 
shall have it written there by one of the tellers. 

25th. The name, title and domicile of each voter who shall 
deposit his ballot shall be entered by the secretary upon a 
list intended to authenticate the number of voters. 

26th. Each ballot shall remain open for six hours and 
shall be canvassed forthwith. 

27th. A record shall be drav/n up for each sitting: this 
record shall be signed by all the members of the bureau. 

28th. In conformity with article 46 of the Constitutional 
Charter, no am.endment to any law can be made in the cham- 
ber, unless it has been proposed or consented to by us, and 
unless It has been sent back to and discussed in the bureaux. 

29th. Any provisions contrary to the present ordinance 
shall remain without force. 

30Lh. Our ministers-secretaries of -state are charged, etc. 

IV. Ordinance for Convoking the Electoral Colleges. 

Charles, etc. 

In view of the royal ordinance, dated this day, relative to 
the organization of the electoral colleges ; 

Upon the report of our minister-secretary of state of the 
department of the interior ; 

We have ordained and do ordain as follows : 

1st. The electoral colleges shall meet as follows: the dis- 
trict electoral colleges September 6th next and the depart- 
ment electoral colleges the 13th of the same month. 

2d. The Chamber of Peers and the Chamber of Deputies 
of the departments are convoked for the 28th of the month 
of September next. 



July Revolution 501 

3d. Our minister-secretary of state of the interior (Count 
de Peyronnet) is charged, etc. 

B. Protest of the Paris Journalists. July 26, 1830. La- 
visse and Ramband, Histoire gcncrale, X, 283. 

The legal regime is interrupted, that of force is begun. 
The government has violated legality, we are absolved from 
obedience. We shall attempt to publish our papers without 
asking for the authorisation which is imposed upon us. The 
government has to-day lost the character which commands 
obedience. We are resisting it in that which concerns us ; it 
is for France to decide how far its own resistance must ex- 
tend. 

C. Protest of the Paris Deputies. July 26, 1830. Du- 
vergier, Lois, XXX, 81. 

The undersigned, regularly elected [to the Chamber of 
Deputies] and at present in Paris, consider themselves ab- 
solutely obliged by their duty and their honor to protest 
against the measures which the councillors of the crown have' 
recently made to prevail for the overthrow of the legal sys- 
tem of elections and the ruin of the liberty of the press. 

The said measures, contained in the ordinances of July 25, 
are, in the eyes of the undersigned, directly contrary to the 
constitutional rights of the Chamber of Peers, to the public 
law of the French, to the prerogatives and decrees of the 
tribunals, and calculated to throw the whole state into a con- 
fusion which would compromise both present peace and fu- 
ture security. 

In consequence, the undersigned, inviolably faithful to 
their oath, protest with one accord, not only against the said 
measures, but also against all the acts which may be the con- 
sequence of them. 

And seeing, on the one hand, that the Chamber of Depu- 
ties, not having been constituted, cannot be legally dissolved ; 
and on the other hand that the attempt to form another Cham- 
ber of Deputies by a new and arbitrary method is in formal 
contradiction to the Constitutional Charter and the acquired 
rights of the electors, the undersigned declare that they still 
consider themselves as legally elected to the deputation by 
the district and department colleges whose suffrages they 



502 July Revolution 

have obtained, and that they cannot be replaced except in 
virtue of elections conducted according to the principles and 
forms determir.ed by the laws. 

And if the undersigned do not effectively exercise the 
rights and do not discharge all the duties which spring from 
their legal election, it is because they have been prevented 
from so doing by physical violence. 

[Signatures.] 

D. Thiers' Orleanist Manifesto. July 30, 1830. Lavisse 
and Rambaud, Histoire generale, X, 287-288. 

Charles X can no longer return to Paris : he has caused 
the blood of the people to flow. The Republic would expose 
us to frightful divisions ; it would embroil us with Europe. 
The Duke of Orleans is a prince devoted to the cause of the 
revolution. The Duke of Orleans did not fight against us. 
The Duke of Orleans was at Jemmapes. The Duke of Or- 
leans is a citizen king. The Duke of Orleans has borne the 
tricolors with ardor. The Duke of Orleans alone can again 
bear them ; we do not wish for any others. The Duke of Or- 
leans does not declare himself. He awaits our will. Let us 
proclcim that will, and he will accept the Charter as we have 
always understood and wanted it. It is from the French peo- 
ple that he will hold the crown. 

E. Proclamation of the Deputies, July 31, 1830. Du- 
vergier, Lois XXX, 84-85. 

Frenchmen, 

France is free. The absolute power was raising its flag ; 
the heroic population of Paris overthrew it. Pans attacked 
has made to triumph in arms the sacred cause which in the 
elections had just triumphed in vain. A power, the usurper 
of our rights and the disturber of our repose, was threat- 
ening at the same time order and liberty; we re-enter into 
possession of order and liberty. No more fear for acquired 
rights ; no further barrier between us and the rights which 
we still lack. 

A government which, without delay, will guarantee us 
these blessings is to-day the first need of the fatherland. 



July Revolution 503 

Frenchmen, those of your deputies who happen to ba already 
at Paris have assembled ; and, while awaiting the regular ac- 
tion of the chambers, they have invited a Frenchman who has 
never fought except for France, Monsieur, the Duke of Or- 
leans, to exercise the functions of lieutenant-general of the 
kingdom. This is in their eyes the surest method to complete 
by peace the success of the most lawful defence. 

The Duke of Orleans is devoted to the national and con- 
stitutional cause; he has always defended its interests and 
professed its principles. He will respect our rights, for he 
will hold his from us. We shall assure ourselves by laws all 
the necessary guarantees in order to render liberty strong and 
durable : 

The re-establishment of the national guard, with the par- 
ticipation of the national guards in the choice of the ofificers ; 

The participation of the citizens in the formation of the 
department and municipal administrations ; 

The jury for press offences; 

Legally organized responsibility of ministers and the sub- 
ordinate agents of the administration; 

The status of military men legally assured ; 

The re-election of the deputies promoted to public offices. 

Finally, we shall in concert with the head of the state give 
to our institutions the development which they need. 

Frenchmen, the Duke of Orleans himself has already- 
spoken, and his language is that which befits a free country, 
"The chambers are about to meet," he tells you, "they will 
deliberate upon the means to assure the reign of the laws and 
the maintenance of the rights of the nation." 

"The Charter shall henceforth be a reality." 

Were present Messrs. : 

[Here follow the names of eighty-nine deputies.] 

F. Proclamation by Louis-Philippe. August i, 1830. 
Monitcur, August 2, 1830. 

Inhabitants of Paris, 

The deputies of France, at this moment assembled in Paris, 
have expressed to me a desire that I should proceed into 
this capitd in order to exercise here the functions of lieuten- 
ant-general of the kingdom. 

I have not hesitated to come to share your dangers, to 
place myself in the midst of your heroic population, and to 



504 July Revolution 

use ail my endeavors to preserve you from the calamities of 
civil war and of anarchy. 

In re-entering the city of Paris, I bear with pride the glo- 
rious colors which you have resumed and which I have myself 
for a long time borne. 

The chambers are about to convene and will deliberate 
upon the means to assure the reign of the laws and the main- 
tenance of the rights of the nation. 

The Charter shall henceforth be a reality. 

Louis-Philippe d'Orleans. 

G. Abdication of Charles X. August 2, 1830. Duvergier, 
Lois, XXX, 87-88. 

My cousin, I am too profoundly pained at the evils which 
afflict or which may threaten my people not to have sought 
a method of preventing them. I have, therefore, taken the 
resolution to abdicate the crown in favor of my grandson, the 
Duke of Bordeaux. 

The dauphin, who shares my feelings, also renounces his 
rights in favor of his nephew. 

You will have, therefore, in your capacity of lieutenant- 
general of the kingdom, to cause to be proclaimed the ac- 
cession of Henry V to the crown. You will in addition take 
all the measures which concern you in order to regulate the 
forms of the government during the minority of the new king. 
Here I confine myself to making known these arrangements; 
it is indeed a method to still escape evils. 

You will communicate my intentions to the diplomatic 
corps, and you will make known to me as soon as possible the 
proclamation by which my grandson will be recognized under 
the name of Henry V. 

I charge Lieutenant-General Viscount de Foissac-Latour to 
bring this letter to you. He has orders to come to an under- 
standing with you about the arrangements to be taken in fa- 
vor of the persons who have accompanied me, as well as about 
suitable arrangements for what concerns me and the remain- 
der of my family. 

We shall regulate afterwards the other measures which are 
the consequence of the change of reign. 



i 



July Revolution 505 

1 renew to you, my cousin, the assurance of the sentiments 
with which I am your affectionate cousin, 

Signed, Charles, Louis-Antoine. 

H. Declaration of the Chamber of Deputies. August 7, 
1830. Duvergier, LoiSj XXX, 93-101. 

The Chamber of Deputies, taking into consideration the 
imperative necessity which results from the events of July 26, 
27, 28, 29 and the days following and the general situation in 
which France is placed in consequence of the violation of the 
Constitutional Charter ; 

Considering besides that, in consequence of that violation 
and of the heroic resistance of the citizens of Paris, His 
Majesty Charles X, His Royal Highness Louis-Antoine, dau- 
phin, and all the members of the elder branch of the royal 
house have at this moment left French territory; 

Declares that the throne is vacant in fact and in right, and 
that it is indispensable to provide therefor. 

The Chamber of Deputies declares secondly that. 

In accordance with the wish and in the interest of the 
French people, the preamble of the Constitutional Charter is 
suppressed, as wounding the national dignity, in appearing 
to gi\uit to Frenchmen the rights which essentially belong to 
them, and that the following articles of the same Charter must 
be suppressed or modified in the manner which is about to be 
indicated. 

[These changes may be ascertained by comparison of Nos. 
93 and 105.] 

Special Provisions. 

All the nominations and new creations of peers made dur- 
ing the reign of Charles X are declared null and void. 

Article 2y of the Charter shall be subjected to a new ex- 
amination in the session of 1831. 

The Chamber of Deputies declares thirdly, 

That it is necessary to provide successively, by separate 
laws and within the shortest possible space, for the objects 
which follow : 



5o6 July Revolution 

1st. The use of the jury for offences of the press and for 
political oi^ences ; 

2d. The responsibility of ministers and other agents of 
authority ; 

3d. The re-election of deputies promoted to salaried 
public offices ; 

4th. The annual vote of the army contingent; 

5th. The organization of the national guard, with the par- 
ticipation of the national guards in the choice of their officers ; 

6th. Provisions which assure in a legal manner the status 
of arm.y and navy officers of every grade; 

7th. Departmental and municipal institutions founded 
upon an elective system ; 

8th. Public instruction and liberty of education ; 

gth. The abolition of the double vote and the fixing of 
the electoral and eligibility conditions ; 

loth. To declare that all the laws and ordinances, in 
whatever they contain contrary to the provisions adopted for 
the reform of the Charter, are and shall remain annulled and 
abrogated. 

On condition of the acceptance of these provisions and 
propositions, the Chamber of Deputies declares finally that the 
universal and pressing interest of the French people calls to 
the throne His Royal Highness Louis-Philippe d'Orleans, 
Duke of Orleans, Lieutenant-General of the Kingdom, and his 
descendants in perpetuity, from male to male, by order of 
primogeniture to the perpetual exclusion of women and their 
descendants. 

In consequence. His Royal Highness Louis-Philippe d'Or- 
leans shall be invited to accept and to swear to the clauses 
and engagements above siet forth, the observation of the Con- 
stitutional Charter and the modifications indicated, and after 
having done it before the assembled chambers, to take the 
title of King of the French. 

Resolved at the palace of the Chamber of Deputies, August 
7, 1830. 



Constitution of 1830 507 

105. Constitution of 1830. 

August 14, 1830. Duvergier, Lois, XXX, 110-114. 

This constitution should be carefully compared with the Con- 
stitutional Charter of 1S14 (No. 93) of which it is a revision. 
The difference in the theories upon which the two documents are 
based calls for pai-ticular notice. 

Repeeences. Fyffe, Modern Europe, II, 379-381 (Popular ed., 
618-619) ; Andrews, Modern Europe, 1, 277-279 ; Seignobos, Eu- 
rope l^-ince ISIJ,. 3 32-134; Cambridfje Modern History. X, 478-479; 
Lavisse and Kambaud, Hisfoire tjenerale, X, 290-291 ; Rambaud, 
Cirdlisaiion contemporaine, 324-325. 

Louis-Philippe, King of the French, to all present and to 
come, greeting. 

We have ordered and do order that the Constitutional 
Charter of 1814, such as it has been amended by the two 
chambers on August 7th and accepted by us on the 9th, shall 
be again published in the following terms: 

Public Law of the French. 

1. Frenchmen are equal before the law, whatever may be 
their titles and ranks. 

2. They contribute, without distinction, in proportion to 
their fortunes, towards the expenses of the state. 

3. They are all equally admissible to civil and military 
employmxcnts. 

4. Their personal liberty is likewise guaranteed ; no one 
can be prosecuted or arrested save in the cases provided by 
law and in the form which it prescribes. 

5. Everyone may profess his religion with equal freedom 
and shall obtain for his worship the same protection. 

6. The minister of the catholic, apostolic, and Roman 
religion, pi-ofessed by the majority of the French, and those 
of the other christian sects, receive stipends from the state. 

7. Frenchmen have the right to publish and to have 
printed their opinions, while conforming with the laws. 

The censorship can never be re-established. 

8. All property is inviolable, without any exception for 
that which is called national, the law making no distinction 
between them. 

Q. The state can require the sacrifice of a property on 



5o'8 Constitution of 1830 

account of a legally established public interest, but with a 
previous indemnity. 

10. All investigations of opinions and votes given prior 
to the restoration are forbidden : the same oblivion is required 
from the tribunals and from citizens. 

11. The conscription is abolished. The method of re- 
cruiting for the army and navy is determined by the law. 

Forms of the Government of the King. 

12. The person of the king is inviolable and sacred. His 
ministers are responsible. To the king alone belongs the 
executi\e power. 

13. The king is the supreme head of the state ; he com- 
mands the land and sea forces, declares war, makes treaties 
of peace, alliance and commerce, appoints to all places of 
public administration, and makes the necessary rules and or- 
dinances for the execution of the laws, without the power 
ever to suspend the laws themselves or to dispense with their 
execution. 

Moreover, no foreign troops can be admitted into the serv- 
ice of the state except in virtue of a law. 

14. The legislative power is exercised collectively by the 
king, the Cham_ber of Peers, and the Chamber of Deputies. 

15. The proposal of laws belongs to the king, the Cham- 
ber of Peers, and the Chamber of Deputies. 

Nevertheless every taxation law must be first voted by the 
Chamber of Deputies. 

16. Every law shall be freely discussed and voted by the 
majority of each of the two chambers. 

17. If a project of law has been rejected by one of the 
three powers, it cannot be presented again in the same session. 

18. The king alone sanctions and promulgates the laws. 

19. The civil list is fixed for the entire duration of the 
reign by the first legislature assembled after the accession of 
the king. 

Of the Chamber of Peers. 

20. The Chambers of Peers is an essential part of the leg- 
islative power. 

21. It is convoked by the king at the same time as the 



Constitution of 1830 509 

Chamber of Deputies. The session of the one begins and ends 
at the same time as that of the other. 

22. Every meeting of the Chamber of Peers which may 
be held outside of the time of the session of the Chamber of 
Deputies is unlawful and of no validity, except the single 
case in which it is assembled as a court of justice, and then 
it can exercise only judicial functions. 

23. The appointment of peers of France belongs to the 
king. Their number is unlimited : he can at his pleasure 
alter their dignities, appoint them for life, or make them he- 
reditary. 

24. Peers have entrance to the chamber at twenty-five 
years of age, and a deliberative voice only at thirty years. 

25. The Chamber of Peers is presided over by the chan- 
cellor of France, and, in his absence, by a peer appointed by 
the king. 

26. The princes of the blood are peers by right of their 
birth : they sit next to the president. 

27. The sittings of the Chamber of Peers are public, as 
are those of the Chamber of Deputies. 

28. The Chamber of Peers has jurisdiction over the 
crimes of high treason and attacks against the security of the 
state, which shall be defined by law. 

29. No peer can be arrested except by the authority of 
the chamber, nor be tried in a criminal matter except by it. 

Of the Chamb3r of Deputies. 

30. The Chamber of Deputies shall be composed of the 
deputies elected by electoral colleges, whose organization shall 
be determined by law. 

31. The deputies are elected for five years. 

^2.. No deputy can be admiitted to the chamber unless he 
is thirty years of age and meets the other qualifications re- 
quired by the law. 

2,Z- If> however, there cannot be found in the department 
fifty persons of the required age who pay the amount of taxes 
required by the law, their number shall be filled up from the 
largest tax-payers below this am.ount of tax, and these shall 
be elected together with the first. 

34. No one is an elector, unless he is at least twenty-five 



SiQ Constitution of 1830 

years of age and meets the other conditions required by the 
law. 

35. The presidents of the electoral colleges are chosen by 
the electors. 

36. At least one-half of the deputies shall be chosen from 
among the eligibles who have their political domicile in the 
department. 

Z7. The president of the Chamber of Deputies is elected 
by it at the opening of each session. 

38. The sittings of the chamber are public; but the re- 
quest of five members suffices for it to form itself into secret 
committee. 

39. The Chamber divides itself into bureaux in order to 
discuss the propositions which have been presented to it by 
the king. 

40. No tax can be imposed or collected, unless it has been 
consented to by the two chambers and sanctioned by the king. 

41. The land-tax is consented to only for one year. In- 
direct taxes can be established for several years. 

42. The king convokes the two chambers each year: he 
prorogues them and can dissolve that of the deputies; but in 
that case he m.ust convoke a new one within the space of 
three months. 

43. No bodily constraint can be exercised against a mem- 
ber of the chamber during the session nor in the preceding or 
follovvitig six weeks. 

44. No member of the chamber, during the course of the 
session, can be prosecuted or arrested upon a criminal charge, 
unless he should be taken in the act, except after the cham- 
ber has permitted his prosecution. 

45. No petition can be made or presented to either of the 
chambers except in writing: the law forbids any personal pre- 
sentation of them at the bar. 

Of the Ministers. 

46. The ministers can be members of the Chamber of 
Peers or of the Chamber of Deputies. 

They have, besides, their entrance into either chamber and 
must be heard when they demand it. 

47. The Chamber of Deputies has the right to accuse the 
ministers and to arraign them before the Chamber of Peers, 
which alone has that of trying them. 



Constitution of 1830 511 

Of the Judiciary. 

48. All justice emanates from the king: it is administered 
in his name by judges whom he appoints and whom he in- 
vests. 

49. The judges appointed by the king are irremovable. 

50. The courts and regular tribunals actually existing are 
continued; they shall not be anywise changed except by vir- 
tue of a law. 

51. The existing commercial court is retained. 

52. The justice of the peace, likewise, is retained. Jus- 
tices of the peace, although appointed by the king, are not 
irremovable. 

5.3. No one can be deprived of the jurisdiction of his 
natural judges. 

54. In consequence, extraordinary commissions and tri- 
bunals cannot be created, under any title or under any denom- 
ination whatsoever. 

55. Criminal trials shall be public unless such publicity 
would be dangerous to order and morality; and, in that case, 
the tribunal shall declare it by a judicial order. 

56. The system of juries is retained. Changes which a 
longer experience may cause to be thought necessary can be 
made only by a law. 

57. The penalty of confiscation of property is abolished 
and cannot be re-established. 

58. The king has the right of pardon and that of com- 
muting penalties. 

59. The Civil Code and the laws actually existing which 
are not in conflict with the present charter remain in force 
until legally abrogated. 

Special Rights Guaranteed by the State. 

60. Persons in active military service, retired officers and 
soldiers, pensioned widows, officers and soldiers,- retain their 
ranks, honors and pensions. 

61. The public debt is guaranteed. Every form of en- 
gagement made by the state with its creditors is inviolable. 

62. The old nobility resume their titles, the new retain 
theirs. The king makes nobles at will ; but he grants to them 
only ranks and honors, without any exemption from the bur- 
dens and duties of society. 



512 Constitution of 1830 

63. The Legion of Honor is maintained. The king shall 
determine its internal regulations and its decoration. 

64. The colonies are regulated by special laws. 

65. The king and his successors shall swear, at their ac- 
cession in the presence of the assembled chambers, to observe 
faithfully the Constitutional Charter. 

66. The present charter and all the rights that it conse- 
crates stand entrusted to the patriotism and the courage of 
the national guards and of all French citizens. 

67. France resum.es its colors. For the future, no other 
cockade shall be worn than the tricolor cockade. 

Special Provisions. 

68. All the new appointments and creations of peers made 
during the reign of Charles X are declared null and void. 

Article 23 of the Charter shall be submitted to a new ex- 
amination in the session of 1831. 

6g. The following subjects shall be provided for succes- 
sively by separate laws within the shortest possible space of 
time : 

1st. The use of the jury for political and press offences; 

2d. The responsibility of the ministers and the other agents 
of the executive authority ; 

3d. The re-election of deputies appointed to public func- 
tions with salaries; 

4th. The annual vote of the quota of the army; 

5th. The organization of the national guards, with the 
participation of the national guards in the choice of their 
officers ; 

6th. Provisions which assure in a legal manner the status 
of the officers of every grade in the army and navy ; 

7th. Departmental and municipal institutions founded 
upon an elective system ; 

8th. Public instruction and the liberty of teaching ; 

9th. Abolition of the double vote and fixing of the elec- 
toral and eligibility conditions. 

70. All laws and ordinances, wherein they are contrary to 
the provisions adopted for the reform of the charter, are 
forthwith and shall remain annulled and abrogated. 

We command all our courts and tribunals, administrative 



Law upon Elections 513 

bodies, and all others that they keep and maintain, cause to be 
kept, observed and maintained the present Constitutional 
Charter, and to m.ake it more known to all, that they cause 
it to be published in all the municipalities of the kingdom and 
wherever there shall be need; and in order that this may be 
firm and stable forever, we have caused our seal to be affixed 
thereto. 

Done at the Palais Royal at Paris, the 14th day of the 
month of August, in the year 1830. 

Signed, Louis-Philippe. 



106, Law upon Elections. 



April 19, 1831. Duvergier, Lois, XXXI, 211-244. 

The Constitutional Charter of 1814 fixed the tax-paying qnali- 
flcation for membership in the Chamber of Deputies at one thou- 
sand francs per annum and for the exercise of the suffrage of 
three hundred francs. (No. 93, articles 38 and 40.) When the re- 
vision of 1830 occurred there was nn informal understanding that 
these qualifications should be revised. This law was enacted in 
falflllment of that understanding and remained unchanged 
ihroughout the entire period of the July Monarchy. It raised 
the namber of voters from about 94,000 to about 188,000. The 
population of France was approximately thirty millions. In con- 
nection with this measure notice should be taken of the laws of 
1831 upon the Chamber of Peers, municipal government, and the 
organization of the national guards. Tho four constitute a sort 
of supplement to the Constitution of 1830. 

Refekencks. I/avisse and Rarabaud, Histoire generale, X, 377- 
378 ; Rambaud, Civilisation contemporaine, 325-329 ; Jaur&s, His- 
toire socialiste, VIII, 98-09. 

Title L Of Electoral Capacities. 

I. Every Frenchman enjoying civil and political rights, 
fully twenty-five years of age, and paying two hundred francs 
of direct taxes is an elector, if he fulfils the other conditions 
required by the present law. 



Title IV. Of the Electoral Colleges. 

38. The Chamber of Deputies is composed of four hun- 
dred fifty-nine deputies. 

39. Each electoral college elects only one deputy. 

The number of the deputies of each department, and the 
division of the departments into electoral districts, are reg- 



514 Provisional Government Decrees 

ulated by the annexed table, making part of the present law. 
40. The electoral colleges are convoked by the king. They 
meet in the city of the electoral or administrative district 
which the king designates. They cannot occupy themselves 
with other matters than the election of the deputies ; all dis- 
cussion and all deliberation are forbidden to them. 

Title V. Of Eligibles. 

59. No one shall be eligible to the Chamber of Deputies, 
if, at the day of his election, he is not thirty years of age, 
and if he does net pay five hundred francs of direct taxes, 
saving the case provided for by article 33 of the Charter. . . 



107. Proclamations and Decrees of the Pro- 
visional Government. 

The provisional government of 1848 exliibited prodigious activ- 
ity in the promulgation of proclamalions and decrees. These few 
are intended to show how some of the great problems were dealt 
with and the ideas of the period. Documents A, C, and H bear 
upon the problem of the form of government which should suc- 
ceed the July Monarchy. Documents B, D, E and F show what 
was done to meet the demands of the socialists. Documents F 
and I illustrate the manner in which the maxim Liberty, Equality, 
Fraternity, was applied. 

Refeeencbs. Fyffe, Modern Europe, III, 34-37 (Popular ed., 
72S-7;'.1) ; Seignobos. Euronc f^ince ISl!,, 159-162 ; Andrews. Mod- 
ern Europe, I. 342-332 ; Dickinson, Revolution and Reaction in 
Modern France, 1(18-] So, passim; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire 
generale, XI, 10-17 ; Jaures, Histoire socialiste. IX. 2-11 : La 
Gorce, Seconde repuhliqiie, I, 99, 103-107, 115-119, 206. 

A. Proclamation of the Overthrow of the July Monarchy. 
February 24, 1848. Duvergier, Lois, XLVIII, 49-56. 

In the Name of the French People. 

A retrograde and oligarchical government has just been 
overthrown by the heroism of the people of Paris. That gov- 
ernment has fled, leaving behind it a trail of blood that forbids 
it ever to retrace its steps. 

The blood of the people has flowed as in July; but this 
time this generous people will not be deceived. It has gained 
a national and popular government in harmony with the 



Provisional Government Decrees 515 

rights, the progress, and the will of this great and generous 
people. 

A provisional government, issuing from acclamation and 
urgency by the voice of the people and of the deputies of the 
departments, in the sitting of February 24, is for the moment 
invested vi^ith the task of assuring and organizing the nation- 
al victory. It is composed of: 

MM. Dupont (de TEure), l.ainartine, Cremieux, Arago 
(of the Institute), Ledrn-Rollin, Gamier-Pages, Marie, Ar- 
mand Marrast, Louis Blanc, Ferdinand Flocon, and Albert, 
workingman. 

These citizens have not hesitated a moment to accept the 
patriotic commission which is imposed upon them by the pres- 
sure of necessity. When the capital of France is on fire the 
warrant of the provisional government is in the public safety. 
All France will understand this and will lend to it the help of 
its patriotism. Under the popular government vvhich pro- 
claims the provisional government every citizen is a magis- 
trate. 

Frenchmen, give to the world the example which Paris has 
given to France ; prepare yourselves by order and confidence 
in yourselves for the solid institutions which you are about to 
be called upon to give yourselves. 

The provisional government resolves to have the Republic, 
subject to ratification by the people, who shall be immediately 
consulted. 

The unity of the .nation, constituted henceforth' of all the 
classes of citizens who compose it; the government of the na- 
tion by itself; 

Liberty, equality, and fraternity for principles, the people 
for emblem and watch-word, that is the democratic government 
which France owes to itself and which our efforts shall be di- 
rected to securing for it. 

B. Declaration Relative to Workingmen. February 25, 
1848. Duvergier, Lois, XLVIII, 59. 

The provisional government of the French Republic en- 
gages to guarantee the existence of the workingman by labor ; 
It engages to guarantee work to all citizens ; 
It recognizes that workingmen ought to enter into associa- 



5i6 Provisional Government Decrees 

tions among themselves in order to enjoy the advantage of 
their labor. 

The provisional government returns to the workingmen, to 
whom it belongs, the million which was about to fall due upon 
the civil list. 

C. Proclamation of the Republic. February 26, 1848. Du- 
vergier, Lois, XLVIII, 60. 

In the Name of the French People. 

Citizens, 

Royalty, under whatever form it may take, is abolished. 

No more legitimism, no more Bonapartism, no regency. 

The provisional government has taken all the measures 
necessary to render impossible the return of the former dy- 
nasty and the advent of a new dynasty. 

The Republic is proclaimed. 

The people are united. 

All the forts which surround the capital are ours. 

The brave garrison of Vincennes is a garrison of brothers. 

Let us preserve that old republican flag whose three colors 
made with our fathers the tour of the world. 

Let us show that this symbol of equality, liberty, and fra- 
ternity, is at the same time the symbol of order, and of order 
the more real, the more durable, since justice is its foundation 
and the whole people its instrument. 

The people have already understood that the provisioning 
of Paris requires a freer circulation in the streets of Paris, and 
the hands which e'rected the barricades have in several places 
made in these barricades an opening large enough for the free 
passage of transportation wagons. 

Let this example be followed everywhere; let Paris resume 
its accustomed appearance and commerce its activity and its 
confidence ; let the people at the same time look to the main- 
tenance of their rights, and let them continue to assure, as they 
have done until now, the public tranquility and security. 



Provisional Government Decrees 517 

D. Decree for Establishing National Workshops. Febru- 
ary 26, 1848. Duvergier, Lois, XLVIII, 60. 

In the Name of the French People. 

The provisional government of the Republic 
Decrees the immediate establishment of national workshops. 
The minister of public works is charged with the exe- 
cution of the present decree. 

E. Proclamation and Order for the Luxembourg Commis- 
sion. February 28, 1848. Duvergier, Lois, XLVIII, 62. 

In the Name of the French People. 

Considering that the revolution, made by the people, ought 
to be made for them; 

That it is time to put an end to the long and iniquitous 
sufferings of the laboring men ; 

That the labor question is one of supreme importance ; 

That there is none higher and more worthy of the atten- 
tion of a republican government ; 

That it belongs especially to France to study intensely and 
to solve a problem propounded today to all the industrial na- 
tions of Europe; 

That it is necessary without the least delay to see to the 
guaranteeing to the people the legitimate fruits of their labor, 

The provisional government of the Republic resolves : 

A permanent commission, which shall be called the gov- 
ernment commission for the workingmen, is about to be ap- 
pointed with the express and special mission of occupying it- 
self with their condition. 

In order to show what importance the provisional govern- 
ment of the Republic attaches to the solution of this great 
problem, it appoints as president of the government commis- 
sion for the zvorkingmen one of its members, M. Louis Blanc, 
and for vice-president another of its members, M. Albert, 
workingman. 

Workingmen will be summoned to make up p-'ut of the 
commission. 

The seat of the commission will be at the Luxembourg 
Palace. 



Si8 Provisional Government Decrees 

F. Decree for Abolishing Titles of Nobility. February 29, 
1848. Duvergier, Lois, XLVIII, 64. 

In the Name of the French People. 

The provisional government, 

Considering : 

That equality is one of the three grand principies of the 
French Republic ; that, in consequence, it ought to receive 
an immediate application, 

Decrees : 

All the former titles of nobility are abolished : the desig- 
nations which were connected with them are interdicted ; they 
cannot be taken in public nor fig'ure in any public document. 

G. Decree upon Labor. March 2, 1848. Duvergier, Lois, 
XLVIII, 67. 

In the Name of the French People. 

Upon the report of the government commission for the 
workingmen, 
Considering : 

1. That too prolonged manual labor ruins the health of 
the worker, but even more, in preventing him from cultivating 
his intelligence, impairs the dignity of man ; 

2. That the exploitation of the workers by the working 
sub-contractors, called: marchand'eurs or tacherons, is essen- 
tially unjust, vexatious, and contrary to the principle of fra- 
ternity ; 

The provisional government of the Republic decrees : 

1. The working day is diminished by one hour. In con- 
sequence, at Paris, where it was eleven hours, it is reduced 
to ten ; and in the country where it has been until now twelve 
hours, it is reduced to eleven ; 

2. The exploitation of the workers by the sub-contractors 
or marchandage is abolished. 

It is understood that the associations of workers which 
have not for their purpose the exploitation of workers by 
each other are not considered as marchandage. 



Provisional Government Decrees 519 

H. Decree for the National Assembly. March 5, 1848. 
Duvergier, Lois, XLVIII, 70-71. 

In the Name of the French People. 

The provisional government of the Republic. 

Wishing to transfer as soon as possible to the hands of 
a definitive government the powers which it exercises in the 
interest and by the command of the people. 

Decrees : 

1. The cantonal electoral assemblies are convoked for 
the ninth of April next in order to elect the representatives 
of the people to the National Assembly which shall decree the 
constitution. 

2. The election shall have population for its basis. 

3. The total number of the representatives of the people 
shall be nine hundred, including Algeria and the French 
coJonies. 

4. They shall be apportioned among the departments in 
the proportion indicated in the table annexed. 

5. The sufifrage shall be direct and universal. 

6. All Frenchmen twenty-one years of age, residing in the 
commune for six months past, and not judically deprived 
nor suspended from the exercise of civic rights, are electors. 

7. All Frenchmen twenty-five years of age and not de- 
prived nor suspended from civic rights are eligible [to the 
National Assembly]. 

8. The ballot shall be secret. 

Q. All the electors shall vote at the head-town of their 
cantons hy scrutin dc liste. 

Each ballot shall contain as many names as there are rep- 
resentatives to elect in the department. 

1 he counting of the votes shall take place at the head- 
town of the canton and the verification at that of the de- 
partment. 

No one can be chosen a representative of the people if he 
does not obtain two thousand votes. 

10. Each representative of the people shall receive a com- 
pensation of twenty-five francs per day during the continu- 
ance of the session. 

11. .^n instruction of the provisional government shall 



520 Provisional Government Decrees 

regulate the details of the execution of the present decree. 

12. The National Constituent Assembly shall be opened 
on April 20. 

13. The present decree shall be immediately sent into the 
departments and published and posted in all the communes of 
the Republic. 

I. Decree upon Slavery. April 27^ 1848. Duvergier, Lois, 
XLVTII, 194. 

The provisional government, considering that slavery is an 
outrage against human dignity ; that in destroying the free will 
of man it sets aside the natural principles of right and duty; 
that it is a flagrant violation of the republican dogma, Lib- 
erty, Equality, Fraternity; considering that if effective meas' 
ures did not follow very closely the proclamation already 
made, of the principle of abolition, the most deplorable dis- 
orders in the colonies may result from it, 

Decrees : 

1. Slavery shall be entirely abolished in all the French 
colonies and possessions two months after the promulgation 
of the present decrees in each of them. From the promulga- 
tion of the present decree m the colonies, all corporal punish- 
ment and all sale of persons not free shall be absolutely for- 
bidden. 

2. The system of contracts for a term of years in Senegal 
is suppressed. 

3. The governors and general commissioners of the Re- 
public are charged to apply the whole of the measures ap- 
propriate to secure liberty to Martinique, Guadeloupe and de- 
pendencies, the island of Reunion, Guiana, Senegal and other 
French settlements on the west coast of Africa, the island of 
Mayotta and dependencies, and in Algeria. 

4. Former slaves condemned to afiflictive or correctional 
penalties for deeds which imputed to free men would not 
have entailed that punishment are amnestied. The persons 
deported by administrative act are recalled. 

5. The National Assembly shall determine the amount of 
the indemnity which shall be granted to the colonists. 

6. The colonies freed from servitude and the possessions 
in India shall be represented in the National Assembly. 



Petition of the i6th of April 521 

7. The principle that the soil of France liberates the slave 
who touches it applies to the colonies and the possessions of 
the Republic. 

8. For the future, even in a foreign country, every French- 
man is forbidden to possess, buy or sell slaves, or to partici- 
pate, either directly or indirectly, in any trafific or exploitation 
of that kind. Any infraction of these provisions shall entail 
the loss of title to French citizenship. Nevertheless, the 
French who shall find themselves affected by these prohibi- 
tions at the moment of the promulgation of the present de- 
cree have a period of three years in which to conform to 
them. Those who shall become the possessors of slaves in 
foreign countries by inheritance, gift or marriage, shall, under 
the same penalty, liberate or alienate them within the same 
period from the day whereon their possession shall have com- 
menced. 



108. Petition of the 16th of April. 

April 16, 1848. Moniteur, April 17, 1S48. 

This petition was presented to the provisional government by 
one of the monster demonstrations organized by the socialists for 
the purpose of bring) Qg about a postponement of the elections for 
the Constituent Assembly. It exhibits in concise form some of 
the general demands of the socialists. 

Refep.encks. Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire generale, XI, 14- 
1.5 ; Jaur^s, Histoire socialiste, IX, 31-39 ; La Gorce, Seconcle re- 
puMique, I, 188-203, 207-208. 

The Workingmen of the Department of the Seine to the 
Provisional Government. 

Citizens, 

Reaction raises its head ; calumny, that favorite weapon of 
men without principles and without honor, from every side 
pours its contagious venom upon the true friends of the 
people. It is to us, men of the revolution, men of action and 
devotion, that it belongs to declare to the provisional gov- 
ernment that the people wish the Democratic Republic; that 
the people wish the abolition of the exploitation of man by 
man; that the people wish the organisation of labor through 
association. 

Vive la Republique! Vive le Gouvernment provisiore! 



522 Declaration upon the Republic 

109. Declaration upon the Republic. 

May 4, 1848. Duvergier, Lois, XLVIII, 278. 

When the National Assembly met on May 4, 1848, this declar- 
ation was proposed hy the representatives of the department of 
the Seine and adopted unanimously. 

Refekence. T<a Gorce, Sceonde repuMique, I, 224-228. 
In the Name of the French People. 

The National Assembly, as faithful interpreter of the sen- 
timents of the people who have just selected it, before be- 
ginning its labors, declares, 

In the name of the French people, and in the face of the 
entire world, that THE REPUBLIC, proclaimed February 
24, 1848, is and shall remain the form of government of France. 

The Republic which France chooses has for its motto : Lib- 
erty, Equality, Fraternity. 

In the name of the fatherland, the National Assembly con- 
jures all Frenchmen, of all opinions, to forget former dis- 
sensions and to constitute henceforth but a single family. The 
day on which the representatives of the people meet is for all 
citizens the festival of concord and fraternity. Vive LA RE- 
PUB LI QUE. 

110. Constitution of 1848. 

November 4, 1S48. Duvergier, Lois, XLVIII, 560-609. 

This constitution was drafted aud promulgated by the National 
Assembly of 1S4S. It should be studied from two standpoints ; 
(1) as a. theoretical frame of government; (2) with reference to 
the political situation of France Iq 1848. Particular notice should 
be taken of the manner in which its two fundamental principles, 
popular sovereignty and separation of the powers, are applied. 

Rkferences. Seignobos, Evrope Since IHll,, 164-16.5 : Andrews, 
Modern Europe. I, 3.57-362 ; Dickinson. Revolution and Reaction 
in Modern France. 200-201 ; Tocqueville, Recollections, Part II, 
Ch. XI : Lavisse and Rambaud. IJi^itnivf ijcni'rale. XI. 20-22 : Ram- 
baud. Ciriliftation coiitemporuinc. .jl(i-.517 : .Taures, Histoire social- 
iste, IX, 100-124 ; La Gorce, Secondc rcpubUque, I, 431-456. 

The National Assembly has adopted, and in conformity 
with article 6 of the decree of October 28, 1848, the pres- 
ident of the National Assembly promulgates the following 
constitution : 



Constitution of 1848 523 

Preamble. 

In the Presence of God, and in the Name of the French 
People, the National Assembly Proclaims: 

I. France is constituted a republic. In definitely adopt- 
ing that fornix of government, it proposes for its aim to move 
more freely in the path of progress and civilization, to assure 
a more and more equitable distribution of the burdens and ad- 
vantages of society, to increase the comfort of each person 
by large reductions in the public expenditures and taxes, and 
without new commotion, through the successive and constant 
action of institutions and laws, to cause every one to reach 
a degree of morality, enlightenment and well-being constant- 
ly becoming more elevated. 

n. The French Republic is democratic, one and indi- 
visible. 

III. It recognizes rights and duties existing before and 
superior to positive laws. 

IV. It has for its maxim liberty, equality, and fraternity. 
It has for its basis the family, labor, property, and public 

order. 

V. It respects foreign nationalities, as it intends to cause 
its own to be respected ; it does not undertake any war for 
the purpose of conquest, and it never employs its forces 
against the liberty of any people. 

VI. Reciprocal duties bind the citizens to the Republic, 
and the Republic to the citizens. 

VII. The citizens ought to love the fatherland, to serve 
the Republic, to defend it at the price of their lives, and to 
share the expenses of the state in proportion to their fortunes ; 
they ought to secure for themselves, by labor, means of sub- 
sistence, and, by foresight, resources for the future ; they 
ought to contribute to the common well-being by fraternally 
co-operating v.'ith one another, and to the general order by ob- 
serving the moral and the written laws which control society, 
the family, and the individual. 

VIII. The Republic ought to protect the citizen in his 
person, his family, his religion, his property, his labor, and to 
put within the reach of each person the education indispensable 
for all men : it is bound to assure by fraternal assistance the 



524 Constitution of 1848 

maintenance of indigent citizens, either by furnishing work 
to them within the limits of its resources, or, in the absence 
of the iamUy, by giving assistance to those who are unable to 
work. 

For the purpose of fultilling all these duties and for a 
guarantee of all these rights, the National Assembly, faithful 
to the traditions of the great assemblies which inaugurated 
the French revolution, decrees as follows, the constitution of 
the Republic. 

Constitution. 

Chapter I. Of the Sovereignty. 

1. Sovereignty resides in the totality of the French citizens. 
It is inalienable and imprescriptible. 

No individual nor any part of the people can claim for 
themselves the exercise thereof. 

Chapter II. Rights of the Citizens Guaranteed by the 
Constitution. 

2. No one can be arrested or held in custody except ac- 
cording to the provisions of the law. 

3. The dwelling-place of every person living on French 
soil is inviolable ; it can be entered only according to the forms 
and in the cases provided by law. 

4. No one shall be removed from the jurisdiction of his 
natural judges. 

No extraordinary commissions or tribunals can be created 
under any title or denomination whatsoever. 

5. The death penalty for political offences is abolished. 

6. Slavery cannot exist upon any French soil. 

7. Every person freely professes his religion, and receives 
from the state, for the exercise of his worship, an equal pro- 
tection. 

Ministers, either of the sects now recognized by law or of 
those which may be recognized in the future, have the right 
to receive a stipend from the state. 

8. Citizens have the right to form associations, to assem- 
ble peaceably and without arms, to petition, and to express 
their opinions by means of the press or otherwise. 



Constitution of 1848 525 

The exercise of these rights has for limits only the rights 
and liberty of others and the public security. 

The press cannot in any case be subjected to the censor- 
ship. 

g. Instruction is free. 

The liberty of instruction is exercised according to the 
conditions of capacity and morality that are determined by 
law and under the oversight of the state. 

This oversight extends to all establishments for education 
and instruction, without any exception. 

10. All citizens are equally eligible to all public employ- 
ments, v/ithcut any other grounds for preference than their 
own merits, and according to the conditions which shall be 
fixed by the laws. 

All titles of nobility, all distinctions of birth, class or 
caste are forever abolished. 

11. All property is inviolable. Nevertheless, the state can 
demand the sacrifice of a property on the ground of a legally 
established public utility, and by furnishing a just and prior 
indemnity. 

12. The confiscation of property can never be re-estab- 
lished. 

13. The constitution guarantees to citizens liberty of labor 
and of industry. 

Society favors and encourages the development of la- 
bor by gratuitous primary education, professional education, 
equality of relations between the employer and the working- 
man, mstitutions of savings and of credit, agricultural insti- 
tutions,, voluntary associations, and the establishment by the 
state, the departments and the communes of public works suit- 
able for the employment of unemployed hands; it furnishes 
assistance to abandoned children, the infirm, and the aged 
that are without resources and whose families cannot relieve 
them.. 

14. The public debt is guaranteed. Every form of en- 
gagement made by the state with its creditors is inviolable. 

15. Every tax is im.posed for the common utility. 
Each person contributes thereto in proportion to his means 

and his fortune. 

16. No lax can be imposed or collected except by virtue of 
the law. 



526 Constitution of 1848 

17. Direct taxation is consented to only for one year. 
Indirect taxes can be consented to for several years. 

Chapter III. Of the Public Powers. 

18. All the public powers, whatever they may be, spring 
from the people. 

They cannot be delegated hereditarily. 

19. The separation of the powers is the fundamental prin- 
ciple of a free government. 

Chapter IV. Of the Legislative Power. 

20. The French people delegate the legislative power to a 
single assembly. 

21. The total number of the representatives of the people 
shall be seven hundred and fifty, including the representatives 
of Algeria and the French colonies. 

22. This number shall be increased to nine hundred for 
the assemblies which are called to alter the constitution. 

23. The basis for election is population. 

24. The suffrage is direct and universal. The ballot is 
secret. 

25. All Frenchmen, twenty-one years of age and enjoying 
their civil and political rights, are electors, regardless of prop- 
erty. 

26. All electors twenty-five years of age, regardless of 
their domicile, are eligible to election. 

27. The electoral law shall determine the causes which can 
deprive a French citizen of the right to elect and to be elected. 

It shall designate the citizens who, exercising or having ex- 
ercised functions in a department or a territorial jurisdiction, 
cannot be elected there. 

28. Every remunerated public employment is incompatible 
with the commission of representative of the people. 

No member of the National Assembly, during the continu- 
ance of the legislature, can be appointed or preferred for pub- 
lic salaried employm.ents of which the incumbents are ap- 
pointed by the executive power. 

The exceptions to the provisions of the two preceding par- 
agraphs shall be determined by the organic electoral law. 

20. The provisions of the preceding articles are not ap- 
plicable to the assemblies elected to alter the constitution. 



Constitution of 1848 527 

30. The election of the representatives shall be by depart- 
ments and by scrutin de liste. 

The electors shall vote in the head-town of the canton; 
nevertheless, on account of local conditions, the canton can be 
divided into several districts, in the form and upon the con- 
ditions that shall be determined by the electoral law. 

31. The National Assembly is elected for three years, and 
is renewed in a body. 

At least forty-five days before the end of the legislature, a 
law determines the time of the new elections. 

If any law does not intervene within the limit fixed by the 
preceding article, the electors meet as if regularly convoked 
upon the thirtieth day preceding the end of the legislature. 

The new assembly is convoked ipso facto upon the day 
following that upon which the commission of the preceding 
assembly expired. 

32. It is permanent. 

Nevertheless, it can adjourn for a period which it shall fix. 

During the continuance of the prorogation, a commission, 
composed of members of the bureau and of twenty-five mem- 
bers appointed by the assembly through secret ballot and ma- 
jority vote has the right to convoke it in case of urgency. 

The President of the Republic also has the right to con- 
voke the assembly. 

The National Assembly determines the place of its meet- 
ings. It determines the extent of the military forces provided 
for its security, and it controls them. 

33. Representatives are always re-eligible. 

34. Members of the National Assembly are the representa- 
tives, not of the department which selects them, but of all 
France. 

35. They cannot receive imperative instructions. 

36. The representatives of the people are inviolable. 
They cannot be questioned, accused nor condemned at anj' 

time for opinions that they have expressed in the National 
Assembly. 

3/. They cannot be arrested upon a criminal charge, un- 
less taken m the act, nor prosecuted except after the assem- 
bly has authorised the prosecution. 

In case of the arrest of one taken in the act, it shall be 
forthwith referred to the assembly, which shall authorise or 



528 Constitution of 1848 

forbid the continuance of th« prosecution. This provision ap- 
plies to the case in which a citizen under arrest is elected 
representative. 

38. Each representative of the people receives a salary 
which he cannot refuse. 

39. The sittings of the assembly are public. Nevertheless, 
the assembly can form itself into secret committee, upon the 
demand of the number of representatives fixed by the rule. 

Each representative has the right of parliamentary initia- 
tive ; he shall exercise it according to the forms determined 
by the rule. 

40. The presence of half plus one of the members of the 
assembly is necessary for the valid enactment of laws. 

41. No proposal for a law, unless in case of urgency, shall 
be voted definitively except after three deliberations at inter- 
vals which cannot be less than five days. 

42. Every proposal whose purpose is to declare urgency 
is preceded by a statement of reasons. 

If the assembly agrees to give effect to the proposal of ur- 
gency it orders the reference thereof to the bureaux and fixes 
the time at which the report upon the urgency shrill be pre- 
sented. 

Upon this report, if the assembly recognizes the urgency, 
it makes declaration thereof, and fixes the time of the dis- 
cussion. 

If it decides that there is no urgency, the proposal follows 
the course of ordinary propositions. 

Chapter V. Of the Executive Power. 

43. The French people delegate the executive power to 
a citizen who receives the title of President of the Republic. 

44. The President must be French born, at least thirty 
years of age, and never have lost the quality of Frenchman. 

45. The President of the Republic is elected for four 
years and is re-eligible only after an interval of four years. 

Furthermore, neither the Vice-President, nor any of the 
kinsmen or connections of the President to the sixth degree 
inclusive, can be elected after him. 

46. The election takes place ipso facto upon the second 
Sunday of the month of May. 

In case, owing to death, resignation or any other cause, 



Constitution of 1848 529 

the President should be elected at any other. time, his powers 
shall expire upon the second Sunday of the month of May 
of the fourth year following his election. 

The President is selected, through secret ballot and ma- 
jority of the votes, by the direct vote of all the electors of the 
French departments and of Algeria. 

47. The minutes of the electoral proceedings are trans- 
mitted immediately to the National Assembly, which decides 
without delay upon the validity of the election and proclaims 
the President of the Republic. 

If no candidate has obtained more than half of the vote 
cast, and at least two million votes, or if the conditions pre- 
scribed by article 44 are not fulfilled, the National Assembly 
elects the President of the Republic, by majority and secret 
ballot, from among the five eligible candidates who have re- 
ceived the most votes. 

48. Before entering upon his duties, the President of the 
Republic in the presence of the National Assembly takes the 
following oath : 

In the presence of God and before the French people, rep- 
resented by the National Assembly, I sivear to remain faith- 
ful to the democratic Republic one and indivisible, and to 
fulfil all the duties that the constitution imposes upon me. 

49. He has the right to cause propositions of law to be 
presented by his ministers to the National Assembly. 

He supervises and secures the execution of the laws. 

50. He disposes of the armed force, without power ever 
to command in person. 

51. He cannot cede any portion of the territory, nor dis- 
solve or prorogue the National Assembly, nor suspend in 
any way the absolute authority of the constitution and the 
laws. 

52. He presents each year, in a message to the National 
Assembly, a statement of the general condition of the affairs 
of the Republic. 

53. He negotiates and ratifies treaties. 

No treaty is definitive until after it has been ratified by the 
National Assembly. 

54. He watches over the defence of the state, but he can- 
not undertake any war without the consent of the National 
Assemblv. 



530 Constitution of 1848 

55. He has the right to pardon, but he can exercise 
this right only after taking the opinion of the Council of State. 

Amnesties can be accorded only by a law. 

The President of the Republic, and the ministers, as well 
as all others persons condemned by the high court of justice, 
can be pardoned only by the National Assembly. 

56. The President of the Republic promulgates the laws 
in the name of the French people. 

57. The laws of urgency are promulgated within a period 
of three days, and the other laws within a period of one month, 
counting from the day on which they shall have been adopted 
by the National Assembly. 

58. Within the period fixed for promulgation, the Pres- 
ident of the Republic, by an explanatory message can request 
a new consideration. 

The assembly deliberates; its resolution becomes definitive; 
it is transmitted to the President of the Republic. 

In that case, the promulgation takes place within the time 
fixed for laws of urgency. 

59. In default of promulgation by the President of the Re- 
public, within the periods required by the preceding articles, 
the president of the assembly shall pi-ovide for it. 

60. Envoys and ambassadors of foreign powers are ac- 
credited to the President of the Republic. 

61. He presides at national solemnities. 

62. He is housed at the expense of the Republic and re- 
ceives a salary of six hundred thousand francs per annum. 

63. He resides in the place in which the National As- 
sembly sits, and cannot leave the continental territory of the 
Republic without being authorised thereto by a law. 

64. The President of the Republic appoints and dismisses 
the ministers. 

He appoints and dismisses, in council of the ministers, 
the diplomatic agents, the commanders-in-chief of the army 
and the navy, the prefects, the superior commandant of the 
national guards of the Seine, the governors of Algeria and 
the colonies, the procureurs-general and other officials of high 
rank. 

He appoints and dismisses, upon the proposal of the prop- 
er minister and according to the regular conditions determined 
by law, the subordinate agents of the government. 



Constitution of 1848 531 

65. He has the right to suspend, for a term that cannot 
exceed three months, the agents of the executive power elected 
by the citizens. 

He can dismiss them only upon the advice of the Council 
of State. 

The law determines the cases in which dismissed agents 
can be declared inelig'ible for the same employments. 

This declaration of ineligibility can be pronounced only 
by a judicial order. 

66. The number of the ministers and their prerogatives 
are fixed by the legislative power. 

67. The acts of the President of the Republic, except 
those by which he appoints and dismisses ministers, are not 
valid unless they are countersigned by a minister. 

68. The President of the Republic, the ministers, and the 
agents and depositories of public authority are responsible, 
each in that which concerns him, for all the acts of the gov- 
ernment and the administration. 

Every measure by which the President of the Republic dis- 
solves the National Assembly, prorogues it or places an ob- 
stacle to the exercise of its commission, constitutes the crime 
of high treason. 

By this act alone, the President is stripped of his func- 
tions ; the citizens are required to refuse him obedience ; the 
executive power passes ipso facto to the National Assembly. 
The judges of the high court of justice meet immediately 
upon pain of forfeiture: they convoke the jurors in the place 
that they designate, in order to proceed to the trial of the 
President and his accomplices ; they themselves designate the 
public oflicers who shall be charged with performing the func- 
tions of the public ministry. 

A law shall determine the other cases of responsibility, as 
well as the forms and the conditions of the prosecution. 

69. The ministers have admission to the body of the 
National Assembly ; they are heard whenever they demand it 
and can have the assistance of commissioners appointed b}'' 
a decree of the President of the Rpublic. 

70. There is a Vice-President of the Republic appointed 
by the National Assembly out of three candidates presented 
by the President within the month that follows his election. 

The Vice-President takes the same oath as the President. 



532 Constitution of 1848 

The Vice-President cannot be chosen from among the 
kinsmen and connections of the President to the sixth degree 
inclusive. 

In case of the disability of the President, the Vice-Presi- 
dent acts for him. 

If the presidency becomes vacant by death, resignation of 
the President, or otherwise, an election for president takes 
place within a month. 

Chapter VI. Of the Council of State. 

71. There shall be a Council of State of which the Vice- 
President of the Republic shall be president, ex-oihcio. 

72. The members of this council are appointed for six 
years by the National Assembly. They are renewed by a 
half within the first three months of each legislature through 
secret ballot and majority. 

They are re-eligible indefinitely. 
7Z- Those of the members of this council who have been 
taken from the body of the National Assembly shall be re- 
placed immediately as representatives of the people. 

74. The members of the Council of State can be dis- 
missed only by the assembly and upon the proposal of the 
President of the Republic. 

75. The Council of State is consulted upon the govern- 
ment's proposals for laws, which according to law must be 
previously submitted for its examination and upon projects of 
parliamentary initiative which the assembly shall have sub- 
mitted to it. 

It prepares the regulations for public administration ; of 
these regulations, it makes only those for which the Nation- 
al Assembly has given it a special authorisation. 

It exercises over the public administration all the powers 
of control and supervision which are conferred upon it by 
law. 

The law shall determine its other duties. 

Chapter VII. Of the Internal Administration. 

76. The division of the territory into departments, dis- 
tricts, cantons and communes is retained. The present limits 
can be changed only by a law. 

yy. There are: ist. In each department, an administra- 



Constitution of 1848 533 

tion composed of a prefect, a council-general and council of 
prefecture; 

2d. In each district, a sub-prefect; 

3d. In each canton, a cantonal council ; nevertheless only 
one cantonal council shall be established in cities divided into 
several cantons ; 

4th. In each commune, an administration composed of a 
mayor, assistants, and a municipal council. 

78. A law shall determine the composition and the prerog- 
atives of the councils-general, the cantonal councils, the mu- 
nicipal councils, and the manner of selecting the mayors and 
the assistants. 

79. The councils-general and the municipal councils are 
elected by the direct vote of all the citizens domiciled in the 
department or the commune. Each canton elects one member 
of the council-general. 

A special law shall regulate the mode of election in the 
department of the Seine, in the city of Paris, and in cities 
of more than twenty thousand souls. 

80. The councils-general, the cantonal councils, and the 
municipal councils can be dissolved by the President of the 
Republic upon the advice of the Council of State. The law 
shall fix the period within which a new election shall be 
held. 

Chapter VIII. Of the Judicial Power. 

81. Justice is administered gratuitously in the name of 
the French people. 

Trials are public, unless publicity would be dangerous to 
order or morality; and in that case the tribunal declares it 
by a judicial order. 

82. The jury shall continue to be employed in criminal 
trials. 

83. Jurisdiction over all political offences and all offences 
committed by means of the press belongs exclusively to the 
jury. 

The organic laws shall determine the jurisdiction in the 
matter of criminal libels against individuals. 

84. The jury alone decides upon the damages claimed for 
acts or offences of the press. 

85. The justices of the peace and their substitutes, the 



534 Constitution of 1848 

judges of first instance and of appeal, the members of the 
court of cassation and the court of accounts are appointed 
by the President of the Republic, according to an order of 
candidature or conditions which shall be regulated by the 
organic laws. 

86. The magistrates of the public ministry are appointed 
by the President of the Republic. 

87. The judges of first instance and of appeal, the mem- 
bers of the court of cassation and of the court of accounts 
are appointed for life. 

They cannot be dismissed or suspended except by a ju- 
dicial order, nor retired except for the causes and in the 
forms determined by the laws. 

88. The councils of war and of revision for the army and 
navy, the maritime tribunals, the tribunals of commerce, the 
trade councils and other special tribunals retain their or- 
ganization and existing prerogatives until they have been al- 
tered by a law. 

89. Conflicts of jurisdiction between the administrative 
and judicial authorities shall be regulated by a special tribunal 
of members of the court of cassation and councillors of state, 
selected every three years in equal number by their respec- 
tive bodies. 

This' tribunal shall be presided over by the minister of 
justice. 

go. Appeals for lack of jurisdiction and excess of power 
against the decrees of the court of accounts shall be car- 
ried before the magistracy of conflicts. 

91. A high court of justice decides, without appeal or 
recourse in cassation, the accusation brought by the National 
Assembly against the President of the Republic or the min- 
isters. 

It likewise tries all persons accused of crimes, attempts 
or conspiracies against the internal or external security of 
the state, whom the National Assembly shall have sent before 
it. 

Except in the case provided for by article 68, it cannot 
be assembled except by virtue of a decree of the National 
Assembly, which designates the city where the court shall 
hold its sittings. 



Constitution of 1848 535 

92. The high court is composed of five judges and thirty- 
six jurors. 

Each year, within the first fifteen days of the month of 
November, the court of cassation appoints from among its 
members by secret ballot and majority vote the judges of 
the high court, to the number of five, and two substitutes. 
The five judges called to sit choose their own president. 

The magistrates filling the functions of the public ministry 
are selected by the President of the Republic, and, in case of 
the accusation of the President or the ministers, by the 
National Assembly. 

The jurors, to the number of thirty-six, and four sub- 
stitute jurors, are taken from among the members of the 
councils-general of the departments. 

The representatives of the people cannot form part of them. 

93. When a decree of the National Assiembly has or- 
dered the formation of the high court of justice, and, in the 
case provided for by article 68 upon the requisition of the 
president or of one of the judges, the president of the court 
of appeal, and, in default of the court of appeal, the president 
of the tribunal of first instance of the judicial head-town of 
the department, draws by lot in public audience the name of 
a member of the council-general. 

94. Upon the day appointed for the trial if there are less 
than sixty jurors present, that number shall be completed by 
supplementary jurors drawn by lot by the president of the 
high court from among the members of the council-general 
nf the department in which the court shall sit. 

95. Jurors who shall not have furnished a valid excuse 
shall be condemned to a fine of from one thousand to ten 
thousand francs, and deprivation of political rights for five 
years at most. 

96'. The accused and the public prosecutor exercise the 
right of challenge as in other cases. 

97. The verdict of the jury that the accused is guilty can 
he rendered only by a two-thirds majority. 

98. In all cases of responsibility of the ministers, the 
National Assembly can, according to circumstances, send the 
accused minister before the high court of justice or before 
the ordinary tribunals for civil damages. 

99. The National Assembly and the President of the 
Republic can in all cases turn over the examination of the 



536 Constitution of 1848 

acts of any officer, other than the President of the Republic, 
to the Council of State, whose report is made public. 

100. The President of the Republic is amenable only to 
the high court of justice. 

With the exception of the case provided for by article 68, 
he cannot be prosecuted except upon the accusation brought 
by the National Assembly, and for crimes and ofifences which 
shall be determined by law. 

Chapter IX. Of the Public Forces. 

loi. The public forces are established to defend the 
state against its enemies abroad and to secure within the 
maintenance of order and the execution of the laws. 

It is composed of the national guard and of the army and 
the navy. 

102. Every Frenchman, with the exceptions fixed by law, 
owes service to the army and the national guard. 

The means by which a citizen may be freed from personal 
military service shall be regulated by the law of recruiting. 

103. The organization of the national guard and the 
constitution of the army shall be regulated by law. 

104. The public forces are of necessity obedient. 
No armed body can deliberate. 

105. The public forces employed to preserve internal or- 
der act only upon the requisition of the constituted author- 
ities, according to the regulations determmed by the legisla- 
tive power. 

106. A law shall determine the cases in which the state 
of siege can be declared and shall regulate the forms and 
consequences of that measure. 

107. No foreign troops can be introduced upon French 
soil, without the previous consent of the National Assembly. 

Chapter X. Special Provisions, 

108. The Legion of Honor is retained ; its statutes shall 
be revised and put in harmony with the constitution. 

109. The territory of Algeria and of the colonies is de- 
clared to be French territory, and shall be ruled by separate 
laws until a special lav/ places them under the regime of 
the present constitution. 

no. The National Assembly confides the safe-keeping of 



Constitution of 1848 537 

the present constitution, and the rights which it consecrates, 
to the guardianship and patriotism of all the French. 

Chapter XI. Of the Revision of the Constitution. 

111. Whenever, in the last year of a legislature, the Na- 
tional Assembly shall have expressed the wish that the con- 
stitution should be altered in whole or in part, such revision 
shall proceed in the following manner: 

The wish expressed by the assembly shall be converted 
into a definitive decision only after three consecutive consid- 
erations, taken at intervals of a month each, and by three- 
fourths of the votes cast. The number of voters must be at 
least five hundred. 

The assembly of revision shall be appointed only for three 
months. 

It must occupy itself only with the revision for which it 
shall have been convoked. 

Nevertheless, it can, in case of urgency, provide for nec- 
essary legislation. 

Chapter XII. Temporary Provisions. 

112. The provisions of the existing codes, laws and regu- 
lations, which are not in conflict with the present constitu- 
tion, remain in force until they are legally altered. 

113. All the authorities constituted by the existing laws 
continue in the exercise of their functions until the promul- 
gation of organic laws affecting them. 

114. The law for the organization of the judiciary shall 
determine the special method of appointment for the first 
composition of the new tribunals. 

115. After the vote upon the constitution, the National 
Constituent Assembly shall proceed to frame the organic laws 
whose drafting shall be determined by a special law. 

116. The first election of the President of the Republic 
shall occur in conformity with the special law passed by the 
National Assembly, October 28, 1848. 



538 The Coup d' Etat 

111. Documents upon the Coup d'Etat of 
December 2, 1851. 

These documents throw light upon many features of the coup 
d'etat of December 2, 1851, and the plebiscite which followed it. 
Among the features that call for notice are: (1) the official ex- 
planation of the ever.ts and conditions which had led up to the 
coiiu (I etat: i2) the inducements offered in order to procure ac- 
(luiescence or approval ; (3) the fundamental principles of the gov- 
ernment about 10 be established: (4) the change effected in the 
original scheme for conducting the plebiscite. All of these docu- 
ments were signed, Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte. 

References. Fyfi'e, Modem Europe, III, 171-177 (Popular ed., 
817-823) ; Seignobos, Europe tiince ISl't, 170-172 ; Andrews, Mod- 
ern Euro'tc, II. 27-37; Dickinson, Revolution and Reaction in Mod- 
ern France, 212-218 ; Lavisse and Hambaud, Histoire generate, XI, 
32-3.'> : Jaures, Histoire sociuliste, X, 1-4 ; La Gorce, Seconde re- 
puhlique, II, 502, 507-510, 594-596. 

A. Decree for Dissolving the National Assembly. De- 
cember 2, 1851. Duvergier, Lois., LI, 475. 

In the Name of the French People. 

The President of the Republic decrees : 

1. The National Assembly is dissolved. 

2. Universal suffrage is re-established. The law of May 
31 is abrogated. 

3. The French people are convoked in their assemblies 
ior December 14 to December 21 following. 

4. The state of siege is decreed within the extent of the 
1st military division. 

5. The Council of State is dissolved. 

6. The Minister of the Interior (M. de Morny) is 
charged, etc. 

B. Proclamation to the People. December 2, 1851. Du- 
vergier, Lois, LI, 475-476. 

Frenchmen ! 

The present situation cannot last much longer. Each day 
that passes increases the dangers of the country. The as- 
sembly, which ought to be the firmest support of order, has 
become a centre of conspiracies. The patriotism of three 
htmdred of its members could not arrest its fatal tendencies. 
Instead of making laws in the general interest, it forges weap- 
ons for civil war ; it makes an attack upon the authority that 
I hold directly from the people ; it encourages all the evil 
passions; it puts in jeopardy the repose of France: I have 



The Coup d' Etat 539 

dissolved it, and I make the whole people judge between it 
arid me. 

The constitution, as you know, was made with the pur- 
pose of weakening in advance the power that you were about 
to confer upon me. Six million votes were a striking pro- 
test against it, nevertheless I faithfully observed it. Provo- 
cations, calumnies, outrages, have found me unmoved. But 
now that the fundamental compact is no longer respected 
even by those who incessantly invoke it, and the men who 
have already destroyed two monarchies wish ito bind my 
hands, in order to overthrow the Republic, it is my duty to 
defeat their wicked designs and to save the country by in- 
voking the solemn judgment of the only sovereign that I 
recognize in France, the people. 

I make, therefore, a loyal appeal to the whole nation, and. 
I say to you : If you wish to continue this state of uneasi- 
ness which degrades us and makes uncertain our future, 
choose another in my place, for I no longer wish an author- 
ity which is powerless to do good, makes me responsible for 
acts I cannot prevent, and chains me to the helm when I see 
the vessel speeding toward the abyss. 

If, on the contrary, you still have confidence in me, give 
me the means to accomplish the great mission that I hold 
from you. 

This mission consists in bringing to a close the era of 
revolutions by satisfying the legitimate wants of the people 
and by protecting them against subversive passions. It con- 
sists, especially, in creating institutions that may survive men 
and that may be at length foundations upon which something 
durable can be established. 

Persuaded that the instability of the executive authority 
and the preponderance of a single assembly are permanent 
causes of trouble and discord, I submit to you the following 
fundamental bases of a constitution which the assemblies will 
develop later. 

1st. A responsible chief selected for ten years; 

2d. Ministers dependent upon the executive power alone ; 

3d. A council of state composed of the most distinguished 
men to prepare the laws and to discuss them before the leg- 
islative body ; 

4th. A legislative body to discuss and vote the laws, 



540 The Coup d' Etat 

elected by universal suffrage without scrutiti de liste, which 
falsifies the election; 

5th., A second assembly, composed of all the illustrious, 
persons of the country, predominant authority, guardian of 
the fundamental compact and of the public liberties. 

This system, created by the First Consul at the beginning 
of the century, once gave to France repose and prosperity: 
it will guarantee them to her again. 

Such is my profound conviction. If you share it, declare 
the fact by your votes. If, on the contrary, you prefer a 
government without force, monarchical or republican, bor- 
rowed from I know not what past or from what chimerical 
future, reply in the negative. 

Thus, therefore, for the first time since 1804, you will vote 
with knowledge of the case, knowing well for whom and for 
what. 

If I do not obtain a majority of your votes I shall then 
bring about the meeting of a new Assembly, and I shall 
resign to it the mandate that I have received from you. 

But if you believe that the cause of which my name is 
the symbol, that is, France regenerated by the revolution of 
'89 and organized by the Emperor, is always yours, proclaim 
it by sanctioning the powers that I ask of you. 

Then France and Europe will be preserved from anarchy, 
obstacles will be removed, rivalries will have disappeared, 
for all will respect, in the decision of the people, the decree 
of Providence. 

C. Proclamation to the Army. December 2, 185 1. Du- 
vergier, Lois, LI, 476. 

Soldiers ! 

Be proud of your mission, you shall save the fatherland, 
for I Qowni upon you, not to violate the laws but to make re- 
spected the first law of the country, the national sovereignty, 
of which I am the legitimate representative. 

For a long time you suffered, as I did, from obstacles that 
opposed themselves to both the good which I wished to do 
for you and the demonstrations of your sympathy in my fa- 
vor. Those obstacles are broken to pieces. The assembly 
sought to make an attack upon the authority that I hold from 
the entire nation ; it has ceased to exist. 



The Coup d' Etat 54 1 

I make a loyal appeal to the people and the army, and I 
say to them: Either give me the means to assure your pros- 
perity, or choose another in my place. 

In 1830, as in 1848, you were treated as vanquished. After 
having flouted your heroic disinterestedness they disdain to 
consult your sympathies and views, although you are the 
elite of the nation. To-day, in this solemn moment, I desire 
that the army should make its voice heard. 

Vote, then, freely as citizens; but as soldiers, do not for- 
get that passive obedience to the orders of the head of the 
government is the strict duty of the army, from the general 
to the soldier. It is for me, responsible for my actions before 
the people and posterity, to take the measures that seem to 
me indispensable for the public welfare. 

As for you, remain steadily within the rules of discipline 
and honor. By your impressive attitude help the country to 
express its will with calmness and reflection. Be ready to 
put down every attack upon the free exercise of the sov- 
ereignty of the people. 

Soldiers, I do not speak to you of the memories which 
my name recalls. They are graven upon your hearts. We 
are united by indissoluble ties. Your history is mine. For 
the past, there is between us community of glory and mis- 
fortune; for the future, there will be community of senti- 
ments and resolutions for the repose and grandeur of France. 

D. First Decree for the Plebiscite. December 2, 1851. 
Duvergier, Lois, LI, 476-477. 

The President of the Republic, considering that sovereign- 
ty resides in the whole body of citizens, and that no fraction 
of the people can assume for itself the exercise of it ; in view 
of the laws and regulations which have hitherto regulated the 
mode of appeal to the people and especially the decrees of 5 
Fructidor, Year III, 24 and 25 Frimaire, Year VIII, the regu- 
lation of 20 Floreal, Year X, the senatus-consultum of 28 
Floreal, Year XII, decrees: 

I. The French people are solemnly summoned in their 
assemblies for the fourteenth of the present month of De- 
cember, in order, to accept or reject the following plebiscite: 

"The French people desire the maintenance of the author- 
ity of Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, and delegate to him the 



542 The Coup d' Etat 

necessary powers in order to make a constitution upon the 
bases proposed in his proclamation of December 2." 

2. x\ll Frenchmen twenty-one years of age and enjoying 
their civil and political rights are summoned to vote. 

3. Upon receipt of the present decree, the mayors of every 
commune shall open two registers upon unstamped paper, 
one of acceptance, the other of non-acceptance of the plebis- 
cite. 



E. Second Decree for the Plebiscite. December 4, 1851. 
Duvergier, Lois, LI, 479. 

The President of the Republic, considering that the mode 
of election promulgated by the decree of the second of De- 
cember had been adopted under other circumstances as guar- 
anteeing the sincerity of election ; but considering that the 
secret ballot actually carried out appears to guarantee better 
the independence of the votes ; considering that the essential 
object of the decree of the second of December is to obtain 
the sincere and free expression ©f the will of the people, 
decrees : 

Articles 2, 3 and 4 of the decree of the second of Decem- 
ber are modified as follows : 

Article 2. The election shall take place by universal suf- 
frage. All Frenchmen twenty-one years of age and enjoying 
their civil and political rights are called upon to vote. 

Article 4. The ballot shall be open during the days of the 
twentieth and twenty-first of December, in the head-town of 
each commune, from eight a. m. to four p. m. The voting 
shall be by secret ballot, yes or no, by means of a written or 
printed vote. 

F. Election Appeal. December 8, 1851. Duvergier, Lois, 
LI, 479-480. 

Frenchmen ! 

The disturbances are pacified. Whatever may be the de- 
cision of the people, society is saved. The first part of my 
task is accomplished. I know that the appeal to the nation. 



Constitution of 1852 543 

in order to terminate the conflict of parties, did not cause 
any serious risk to the public tranquiUty. 

Why should the people rise against me? 

If I no longer possess your confidence, if your ideas have 
changed, there is no need to shed precious blood ; it suffices 
to deposit in the urn an adverse vote. 

I shall always respect the decision of the people. 

But until the nation has spoken, I shall not recoil before 
any effort nor before any sacrifice in order to defeat the at- 
tempts of the factions. This task, moreover, is made easy for 
me. 

On the one hand, it has been seen how insensate it is to 
struggle against an army united by the ties of discipline and 
animated by the sentiment of military honor and by devotion 
to the fatherland. 

On the other hand, the calm attitude of the inhabitants 
of Paris, the reprobation with which they have stigmatized 
the riot, have testified decisively enough for whom the cap- 
ital pronounces : 

In those populous quarters, where but lately insurrection 
recruited itself so quickly among the workingmen susceptible 
to its allurements, anarchy this time could find only a pro- 
found repugnance for those detestable excitements. Let 
thanks for this be rendered to the intelligent and patriotic 
population of Paris ! Let it persuade itself more and more 
that my only ambition is to assure the repose and prosperity 
of France. 

Let it continue to lend its assistance to authority, and soon 
the country will be able to carry through with calmness the 
solemn act which must inaugurate a new era for the Republic. 



112. Constitution of 1852. 



January 14, 1852. Duvergier, Lois, LII, lS-27. 

This constitution was prepared and promulgated by Louis Na- 
pol'^on in conformity with the authorisation ^iven him by the pleb- 
iscite of Deoeinbev 20. Ifc.ol (See No. Ill D). As a whole it 
should he compared wita its model, the constitution of the Year 
VIII O'o. .58). Numerous features of it may also be compared 
with the preceding constitutioDs. especially those of 1802, 1804, 
1830 and 1848 (Nos. 6C E, 70, 10.5. 110). Features of it which 
seem to indicate a speedy reappearance of the Empire should be 
particularly noticed. 



544 Constitution of 1852 

Rki-'eeencks. Seignobos. Europe Since l&ll,, 171-172 ; An- 
drews, Modern Europe, II, 151-153; Dickinson, Revolution and Re- 
action in Modern France, 228-229 : Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire 
genernle, XI, 35; Rambaud, Civilisation contemporaine, 518-519; 
Jaures, Hi-itoire sociuliste, X, 32-33 ; La Gorce, Second empire, I, 
24-35. 

The President of the Republic, 

Considering . . . [The omitted paragraphs recite the 
resolution submitted to the people, and the five bases for a 
constitution accepted at the same time, see pp. 539-540]. 

Considering that the people have responded in the affirma- 
tive by seven million one hundred thousand votes. 

Promulgates the constitution of which the tenor follows: 

Title I. 

I. The constitution recognizes, confirms and guarantees 
the great principles proclaimed in 1789, and which are the 
basis of the public law of the French. 

Title II. Form of the Government of the Republic. 

2. The government of the French Republic is confided 
for ten years to Prince Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, now Pres- 
ident of the Republic. 

3. The President of the Republic governs by means of 
the ministers, the Council of State, the Senate and the Legis- 
lative Bod3^ 

4. The legislative power is exercised by the President of 
the Republic, the Senate, and the Legislative Body collec- 
tively. 

Title III. Of the President of the Republic. 

5. The Prpsident of the Republic is responsible before the 
French people, to whom he has always the right to make ap- 
peal. 

6. The President of the Republic is the head of the state, 
he commands the land and sea forces, declares war, makes 
treaties of peace, alliance and commerce, appoints to all the 
offices, and makes the regulations and decrees necessary for 
the execution of the laws. 

7. Justice is administered in his name. 

8. He alone has the proposal of the laws. 

9. He has the right to grant pardons. 



Constitution of 1852 545 

10. He sanctions and promulgates the laws and the sen- 
atus-consulta. 

11. He presents every year to the Senate and the Legis- 
lative Body, by a message, the condition of the affairs of the 
Republic. 

12. He has the right to declare the state of siege in one 
or several departments, provided that he reports it to the 
Senate with the least possible delay. 

The results of the state of siege are regulated by law. 

13. The ministers are subject to the head of the state 
only; they are not responsible for the acts of the government 
except each in that which concerns him ; there is no solidar- 
ity among them; they can be accused only by the Senate. 

14. The ministers, the members of the Senate, the Leg- 
islative Bod}^, the Council of State, the officers of the army 
and the navy, the magistrates and the public functionaries 
take the following oath : 

/ swear obedience to the constitution and fidelity to the 
President. 

15. A senatus-consultum fixes the sum annually allowed 
to the President of the Republic for the entire duration of 
his functions. 

16. If the president of the Republic dies before the ex- 
piration of his commission, the Senate convokes the nation 
in order to proceed to a new election. 

17. The Head ef the State has the right, by a secret act 
deposited in the archives of the Senate, to designate the name 
of the citizen whom he recommends, in the interest of France, 
to the confidence of the people and for their votes. 

18. Until the election of the new President of the Repub- 
lic, the president of the Senate governs with the assistance of 
the ministers in office, who organize themselves into a coun- 
cil of government and act by the majority of votes. 

Title IV. Of the Senate. 

19. The number of senators cannot exceed one hundred 
and fifty ; it is fixed for the first year at eighty. 

20. The Senate is composed: ist, of the cardinals, mar- 
shals and admirals ; 2d, of the citizens whom the President of 
the Republic sees fit to elevate to the dignity of senator. 



546 Constitution of 1852 

2J. The senators are irremovable and for life. 

22. l"he services of a senator are gratuitous; nevertheless 
the President of the Republic can grant to senators , by rea- 
son of services rendered and the condition of their fortunes, 
a personal allowance, which cannot exceed thirty thousand 
francs per anrum. 

23. The president and the vice-presidents of the Senate 
are appointed by the President of the Republic and are chosen 
from among the senators. 

They are appointed for one year. 

The stipend of the president of the Senate is fixed by a 
decree. 

The sittings of the Senate are not public. 

25. The Senate is the guardian of the fundamental com- 
pact ?nd of the public liberties. No law can be promulgated 
until after having been submitted to it. 

26. The Senate opposes the promulgation, 

1st. Of laws which contravene or constitute an attack 
upon the constitution,' religion, morality, freedom of worship, 
personal liberty, equality of the citizens before the law, the 
inviolability of property and the principle of the irremovabili- 
ty of the magistracy ; 

2d, Of those which can compromise the defence of the 
territory. 

27. The Senate regulates by a senatus-consultum : 
1st. The constitution of the colonies and of Algeria; 
2'd. Everything that has not been provided for by the 

constitution and which is necessary for its operation; 

3d. The meaning of the articles of the constitution which 
occasion different interpretations. 

28. These senatus-consulta shall be submitted to the sanc- 
tion of the President of the Republic and shall be promulgated 
by him. 

29. The .Senate allows or annuls all the acts which are 
submitted to it by the government as unconstitutional or are 
denounced, for the same reason, by the petitions of citizens. 

30. The Senate can, in a report addressed to the Presi- 
dent of the Republic, propose the bases of proposals for laws 
of great national interest. 

31. It can likewise propose alterations in the constitution. 



Constitution of 1852 547 

If the proposal is adopted by the executive power, it is en- 
acted by a senatns-consultiTrn. 

32. Nevertheless every alteration in the fundamental 
bases of the constitution, as they have been set forth in the 
proclamation of December 2 [1851], and adopted by the 
French people, shall be submitted to universal suffrage. 

2S- In case of the dissolution of the Legislative Body, 
and until a new convocation, the Senate, upon the proposal 
of the President of the Republic, provides by measures of 
urgency for whatever is necessary for the operation of the 
government. 

Title V. Of the Legislative Body. 

34. Population is the basis for election. 

35. There shall be one deputy to the Legislative Body 
for every thirty-five thousand electors. 

36. The deputies are elected by universal suffrage with- 
out scrutin de liste. 

27. They do not receive any stipend. 

38. They are selected for six years. 

39. The Legislative Body discusses and votes upon pro- 
posals for law^s and upon taxation. 

40. Every amendment adopted by the commission charged 
to examine a proposal for a law shall be sent back, without 
discussion, to the Council of State by the president of the 
Legislative Body. 

If the amendment is not adopted by the Council of State, 
it ca.nnot be submitted to the consideration of the Legislative 
Body. 

41. The report of the sessions of the Legislative Body by 
newspapers or any other means of publication shall consist 
only in the reproduction of the minutes drawn up at the close 
of each session under the direction of the President of the. 
Legislative Body. ; 

43. The president and the vice-presidents of the Legis- 
lative Body are appointed by the President of the Republic 
for one year; they are chosen from among the deputies. The 
stipend of the president of the Legislative Body is fixed by a 
decree. 

44. The ministers cannot be members of the Legislative 
Bodv. 



548 Constitution of 1852 

45. The right of petition is exercised before the Senate. 
No petition can be addressed to the Legislative Body. 

Title VI. Of the Council of State. 

46. The President of the Republic convokes, adjourns, 
prorogues and dissolves the Legislative Body. In case of dis- 
solution, the President of the Republic must convoke it anew 
within a period of six months. 

47. The number of councillors of state in regular service 
is from forty to fifty. 

48. The councillors of state are appointed by the Pres- 
ident of the Republic, and are dismissable by him. 

49. The Council of State is presided over by the Presi- 
dent of the Republic, and in his absence by the person whom 
he designates as vice-president of the Council of State. 

50. The Council of State is charged, under the direction 
of the President of the Republic, to draw up the proposals 
for .laws and the regulations for public administration, and 
to settle the difficulties that arise in affairs of administration. 

51. It carries on, in the name of the government, the dis- 
cussion of the proposals for laws before the Senate and Leg- 
islative Body. 

The councillors of state charged to speak in the name of 
the government are designated by the President of the Re- 
public. 

52. The salary of each councillor of state is twenty-five 
thousand francs. 

53. The ministers have rank, sitting and deliberative voice 
rn the Council of State. 

Title VII. Of the High Court of Justice. 

54. A high court of jus.tice tries, without appeal or re- 
course in cassation, all persons who have been sent before it 
as accused of crimes, attempts or conspiracies against the Pres- 
ident of the Republic and against the internal or external se- 
curity of the state. 

It can be called in session only in virtue of a decree of 
the President of the Republic. 

55. A senatus-consultum shall determine the organiza- 
tion of this high court. 



Louis Napoleon and the Press 549 

Title VIII. General and Temporary Provisions. 

56. The provisions of the existing codes, laws and reg- 
ulations, which are not contrary to the present constitution, 
remain in force until legally altered. 

57. A kw shall determine the municipal organization. 
The mayors shall be appointed by the executive power and 
can be taken from outside of the municipal council. 

58. The present constitution shall be in force dating from 
the day on which the great bodies of the state which it or- 
ganizes shall be constituted. 

The decrees issued by the President of the Republic from 
December 2, 1851, to the present time, shall have the force 
of law. 

Done at the Palace of the Tuileries, January 14, 1852. 
Signed, Louis Napoleon. 

113. Documents upon Louis Napoleon and the 
Press. 

February 17, 1852. Duvergier, Lois, LII, 104-107- 

One of the most characteristic of the governmental methods 
of Lo'iis Napoleon was his policy toward the press. The system 
established in docameut A wag followed without any essential 
change until the enactment of the law of 1868, document B. This 
was one of the •'liberal laws" which accompanied the constitu- 
tional chansjes whereby the autocratic empire was transformed in- 
to the liberal empire. (See Mo. 117) The system revealed by 
these documents should be compared with those of the first Em- 
pire (No. 86) and of the restoration period (No. 101). 

References. Seignobos, Europe Since 18H, 174 ; Rambaud, 
Civilisation contemporaine, 586-538 ; La Gorce, Second empire, I, 
43-48, V, 346-362; Jaures, Histoire socialiste, X, 44-48, 322. 

Chapter I. Of the Prior Authorisation and Caution- 
Money of Newspapers and Periodical Works. 

I. No newspaper or periodical work treating of political 
matters or of social economy, and appearing either regularly 
and at a fixed day or in parts and irregularly, can be pro- 
duced or published without the prior authorisation of the 
government. 

This authorisation can be granted only to a Frenchman 
who has reached his majority and enjoys all his civil and po- 
litical rights. 



550 Louis Napoleon and the Press 

The prior authorisation of the government shall likewise 
be necessary for all changes erfected in the personnel of the 
conductors, editors-in-chief, proprietors or administrators of 
a newspaper. 

2. Political or social economy newspapers published 
abroad cannot circulate in France except by virtue of an au- 
thorisation of the government. 

The introducers or distributors of a foreign newspaper 
whose circulation has not been authorised shall be pun- 
ished by an imprisonment of from one month to one year, 
and a fine of from one hundred francs to five thousand francs. 

3. The proprietors of every newspaper or periodical work 
treating of political matters or of social economy are re- 
quired, before its publication, to pay into the treasury a cau- 
tion-money in coin, upon which interest to the regular amount 
for caution-monies shall be paid. 

4. [This article fixes the amount of the caution-money, 
var3'-ing from fifteen to fifty thousand francs.] 

Chapter II. Of the Stamp-Duty of Periodical Journals. 

f). Newspapers or periodical works and periodical collec- 
tions of political engravings or lithographs of less than ten 
sheets of twenty-five to thirty-two square decimeters or of 
less than five sheets of fifty to seventy- two square decimeters 
shall be subject to a stamp-duty. 

This duty shall be six centimes per sheet of seventy-two 
square decimeters or less in the departments of the Seine 
and of Seine-et-Oise, and three centimes for newspapers, en- 
gravings or periodical works published anywhere else. 

Chapter III. Offences and Contraventions not Provided 

for in Previous Laws. . . . Right of Suspension 

and Suppression. 

14. Every contravention of article 42 of the constitution 
upon the publication of the official reports of the sittings of 
the Legislative Body shall be punished by a fine of from one 
thousand to five thousand francs. 

15. The publication or reproduction of false news and of 



Louis Napoleon and the Press 551 

fabricated items, falsely or deceitfully attributed to third 
parties, shall be punished by a fine of from fifty to one thou- 
sand francs. 

If the publication or reproduction is made in bad faith, 
or if it is of a nature to disturb the public peace, the pen- 
alty shall be from one month to one year imprisonment and 
a fine of from five hundred to one thousand francs. The 
maximum penalty shall be applied if the publication or repro- 
duction was at the same time of a nature to disturb the pub- 
lic peace and was made in bad faith. 

16. Reporting the sittings of the Senate otherwise than 
by the reproduction of the articles inserted in. the official 
journal is forbidden. 

Reporting the sittings of the Council of State which are 
not public is forbidden. 

17. Reporting trials for press offences is forbidden. The 
prosecution alone can be announced; in every case, the de- 
cision can be published. 

In all civil, correctional or criminal cases, the courts and 
tribunals can forbid the reporting of the trial. This inter- 
diction cannot be applied to the decision, which can always 
be published. 

19. Every conductor shall be required to insert at the top 
of the paper official documents, authentic accounts, informa- 
tion, replies and corrections which are sent to him by a de- 
pository of the public authority. 

The publication shall take place in the next number which 
shall appear after the day of the receipt of the documents. 

The insertion shall be gratuitous. 

21. The publication of any article treating of political mat- 
ters or of social economy, and emanating from an individual 
condemned to an afflictive and infamous punishment, or in- 
famous only, is forbidden. 

2?. No designs, no engravings, lithographs, medals, prints 
or emblems, of any nature or kind whatsoever, can be pub- 
lished, exposed or put on sale without the prior authorisation 
of the m.inister of police at Paris, or of the prefects in the 
departments. 



552 Louis Napoleon and the Press 

23. The judicial notices required by the laws for the va- 
lidity or publication of legal proceedings or contracts shall be 
inserted, on pain of the nullity of the insertion, in the news- 
paper or newspapers of the district which shall be designated 
each year by the prefect. 

The prefect shall regulate at the same time the scale of 
prices for the printing of these notices. 

24. Any person who follows the business of bookseller 
without having obtained the warrant required by article II 
of the law of October 2, 1814, shall be punished by a penalty 
of from one month to two years imprisonment and a fine of 
from one hundred to two thousand francs. The establishment 
shall be closed. 

32. A condemnation for crime committed by means of the 
press, two condemnations for offences or contraventions com- 
mitted within the space of two years, entails ipso facto the 
sttppression of the newspapers whose conductors have been 
condemned 

After a condemnation for a press contravention or offence 
pronounced against the responsible conductor of a newspaper, 
the government has the right, during the two months which 
follow that condemnation, to pronounce either the tem.porary 
suspension or the suppression of the newspaper. 

A newspaper can be suspended by ministerial decision, 
even when it has not been the subject of any condemnation, 
after two notices, with statements of reasons, and during a 
time which cannot exceed two months. 

A newspaper can be suppressed either after a judicial or 
administrative suspension or as a measure of public safety, by 
a special decree of the President of the Republic, published 
in the Bulletin of the Laws. 



i). Lnw upon the Press. May 11, 1868. Duvergier, Lois, 
I.XVllI. 125-170. 

I. Any Frenchm.an of legal age and in the enjoyment of 
h'n' civil and political rights can, without prior authorisation, 



Louis Napoleon and the Press 553 

publish a newspaper or periodical work appearing either reg- 
ularly and at a fixed day or in parts and irregularly. 

2. No newspaper or periodical work can be published un- 
less there has been made, at Paris at the prefecture of police 
and in the departments at the prefecture, and within at least 
fifteen days before the publication, a declaration containing : 

1st. The title of the newspaper or periodical work and 
the periods at which it is due to appear; 

2d. The name, residence and duties of the proprietors 
other than the silent partners : 

3d. The name and residence of the conductor ; 

.4th. The location of the printing office where it is to be 
printed. 

3. The stamp duty, fixed by article 6 of the decree of 
February 17, 1852, is reduced to five centimes in the depart- 
ments of the Seine and Seine-et-Oise, and to two centimes 
everywhere else. 

4. Electoral posters of a candidate containing his profes- 
sion of faith, a circtdar signed by him, or only his name, are 
free from the stamp duty. 

7. At the moment of the publication of each sheet or part 
of a newspaper or periodical work, there shall be sent to the 
prefecture for the bead-towns of the departments, to the sub- 
prefecture for those of the district, and for the other cities to 
the mairic, two copies signed by the responsible conductor or 
one oi them, if there are several responsible conductors. 

8. No newspaper or periodical work can be signed by a 
member of the Senate or Legislative body in the capacity of 
responsible conductor. . . . 

9. The publication by a newspaper or periodical work of 
an article signed by a person deprived of his civil and polit- 
ical rights, or to whom admission to France is forbidden, is 
punished by a fine of one thousand to five thousand francs. 

12. A condemnation for crime committed by means of the 
press entails ipso faclo the suppression of the newspaper 
whose conductor has been condemned. 

In "case of repetition within two years from the first con- 



554 Evolution of the Second Empire 

demriat'on for a press offence, other than those committed 
against individuals, the tribunals can, in punishing a, new of- 
fence of the same nature, pronounce the suspenson of the 
newspaper or periodical work for a time which shall not be 
less than fifteen days or more than two months. 



114. Documents upon the Evolution of the 
Second Empire. 

These documents record some of the most important steps in 
the process by whicli the restoration of the Empire was effected. 
Incidentally they also throw light upon many other features of 
the process. Document A is the speech made by Louis Napoleon 
at the inauguration of the government created by the constitu- 
tion of 1852. It may be called the manifesto of the reorganized 
republic. Document B is a type of the hundreds of addresses 
presented during the course of his famous tour in southern France 
in September and October, 18.52. Document C is often called the 
manifesto of the Empire. Pronounced by Louis Napoleon at the 
end of his southern tour, it contained the first direct intimation 
from him that the Empire was to be re-established, and outlined 
its policy. Document D effected the necessary changes to adapt 
the constitution of 18.52 to the Empire. The vote for acceptance 
was nearly eight millions against about two hundred and fifty 
thousand. 

Referexces. Andrews, Modern Europe, II, 37-41 ; La Gorce, 
Second empire, I, 59-01, 88-106 . 

A. Speech of the Prince-President to the Chambers. 
March 29, 1852. Alonitcnr, March 30, 1852. 

Messrs Senators, Messrs Deputies. 

The dictatorship which the people confided to me ceases 
to-day. Things are about to resume their regular course. It 
is with a feeling of real satisfaction that I come to proclaim 
here the putting into effect of the constitution ; for my con- 
stant preoccupation has been not only to re-establish order, 
but to render it durable by giving France institutions suitable 
to its needs. 

Only a few months ago, 3'ou will recall, the more I con- 
fined myself within the narrow circle of my attributes, the 
more it was sought to restrict them, in order to deprive me of 
movement and action. Often discouraged, I confess, I had 
thought of abandoning an authority thus disputed. What re- 
strained me was that I saw only one thing to succeed me: 



Evolution of the Second Empire 555 

anarchy. Everywhere, in fact, ardent passions, incapable of 
establishing anything, were rising up to destroy. Nowhere 
was there an institution or a man to whom to attach ; nowhere 
was there an incontestable Tight, or any organization, or sys- 
tem w^hich could be realized. 

So when, thanks to the co-operation of some courageous 
men, thanks especially to the energetic attitude of the army, 
all the perils Avere swept away in a few hours, my first care 
was to ask the people for institutions. For toO' long a time 
society had resembled a pyramid which someone had turned 
over and sought to make rest upon its apex; I have replaced 
it upon its base. Universal suii'rage, the only source of right 
in such conjunctures, was immediately re-established; order 
reconquered its ascendancy ; in fine, France adopting the prin- 
cipal provisions of the constitution which I submitted to it, I 
was permitted to create political bodies whose influence and 
consideration will be so much greater as their attributes 
have been wisely regulated. 

In fact, among political institutions those alone endure 
which fix in an equitable manner the limits in which each 
power must remain. There is no other means of arriving at 
a useful and beneficent application of liberty; examples are 
not far from us. 

Why. in 1814, was the inauguration of a parliamentary 
regime seen with satisfaction, despite our reverses? It was, 
I do not fear to avow it, because the Emperor, on account 
of war, had been led to a too absolute exercise of authority. 

Why, on the contrarj^, in 1851, did France applaud the fall 
of that same parliamentary regime? It was because the 
chambers had abused the influence which had been given 
them, and because, wishing to dominate everything, they 
were ccmpromising the general equilibrium. 

Finally, why has France not risen against the restrictions 
imposed upon the liberty of the press and personal liberty? 
It is because one had degenerated into license and the other, 
instead of being the orderly exercise of the right of each, by 
odious excesses had m.enaced the rights of all. 

This extreme danger, especially for democracies, of con- 
stantly seeing badly defined institutions sacrifice in turn au- 
thority or liberty, was perfectly appreciated by our fathers 



556 Evolution of the Second Empire 

half a century ago, when, upon emerging from the revolu- 
tionary turmoil and after vain trial of every kind of system, 
they proclaimed the constitution of the Year VIII, which has 
served as the model for that of 1852. Without doubt these 
do not sanction all those liberties, to the abuses of which 
we had even become accustomed ; but they also consecrate 
some very real ones. On the morrow of revolutions, the first 
of the guarantees for a people does not co.n-sist in the im- 
m.oderate vi.se of the tribune and the press ; it is in the rig'ht 
to choose the government which is suitable for it. Now the 
French nation has given to the world, perhaps for the first 
time, the imposing spectacle of a great people voting in entire 
liberty the form of its government. 

Thus the head of the state whom you have before you is 
indeed the expression of the popular will; and what do I see 
before me? two chambers, one elected in virtue of the most 
liberal law which exists in the world ; the other appointed by 
me, it is true, but independent also, because it is irremovable. 

Around me you will notice men of patriotism and of rec- 
ogni::ed merit, always ready to support me with their counsel 
and to enlighten me upon the needs of the country. 

That constitution which from to-day is going to be in op- 
eration is not, then, the work of a vain theory nor of des- 
potism : it is the work of experience and of reason.. You will 
aid, me, gentlemen, to consolidate, extend and improve it. 

And now, gentlemen, at the moment in which you are 
about to associate yourselves patriotically with my labors, I 
desire to set forth frankly what shall be my conduct. 

Seeing me re-establish the institutions and recollections 
of the Empire, it has been often repeated that I desire to re- 
establish the Empire itself. If such was my constant pre- 
occupation, that transformation would have been accom- 
plished long since ; neither the means nor the occasions were 
lacking to me. 

Thus in 1848, when six million votes elected me, in spite 
of the Constituante, I was not ignorant of the fact that by 
simple refusal to acquiesce in the constitution, I could have 
given myself a throne. But an elevation which must neces- 
sarily lead to grave disturbances did not seduce me. 



Evolution of the Second Empire 557 

On June 13. 1849, it would have been equally easy for me 
to change the form of the government; I did not wish it. 

Finally, on the 2U of December, if personal considerations 
had outweighed the grave uiterests of the country, I might 
have first of all asked the people for a pompous title, which 
they would not have refused. I was content with what I had. 

When, then, I draw examples from the Consulate and the 
Empire, it is because I find them there especially stamped 
with nationality and grandeur. Resolved to-day, as before, 
to do everything for France, and nothing for myself, I shall 
accept modifications of the present state of things only if I 
am constrained thereto by evident necessity. Whence can it 
arise? Only from the conduct of parties. If they are re- 
signed, nothing will be changed. But if by their secret in- 
trigues they seek to undermine the foundations of my gov- 
ernment : if, in their blindness, they deny the legitimacy of 
the result of the popular election; if, in fine, they continue 
constantly to put in jeopardy the future of the country by 
their attacks, then, but only then, it may be reasonable to ask 
the people, in the nam.e of the repose of France, for a new 
title ivhich shall fix irrevocably upon my head the power with 
which I am invested. But let us not anticipate difficulties 
which doubtless have nothing of probability about them. Let 
us preserve the Republic; it threatens nobody, it can reassure 
everybody. Under its banner I wish to inaugurate again an 
era of oblivion and conciliation, and I call upon all, without 
distinction, who are willing to co-operate freely with me for 
the public welfare. 



B. Address of the Municipality of Vedennes to Louis- 
Napoleon. October, 1852. Moniteur, October 8, 1852, 

The Municipal Council, 

Considering that in destroying the hopes and baffling the 
projects of those perverse men who had dreamed of civil war, 
anarchy, and the overturning of society, Louis-Napoleon has 
done for the country and the peace of the entire world more 
than it has ever been given to any man to do : 

Considering that by the repression of the anarchical at- 



558 Evolution of the Second Empire 

tempts and the re-establishment of the principle of authority, 
he has rendered to society brilliant services and has merited 
well of France; 

Considering that confidence in the stability of institutions 
is one of the m.ost essential elements of the strength of states 
and of public prosperity; 

Unanimously expresses the desire that the Empire should 
be re-established in the person of His Imperial Highness 
Prince Louis-Napoleon and his descendants, and for that pur- 
pose, in conformity with articles 31 and 32 of the constitu- 
tion, a senatus-consultum should be proposed for the accep- 
tance of the French people. 

C. The Bordeaux Address. October 9, 1852. Moniteur, 
October 12, 1852. 

Gentlemen, 

The invita.tion of the chamber and of the tribunal of com- 
merce of Bordeaux which I have cheerfully accepted furnishes 
me an opportunity to thank your grand city for its reception 
so cordial and its hospitality so replete with magnificence, 
and I am very glad also, towards the end of my tour, to 
share with you the impressions which it has left upon me. 

The purpose of this tour, as you know, was that I might 
come to know for myself our beautiful provinces of the south, 
and that I might appreciate their needs. It has, however, 
given rise to a much more important result. 

Indeed, I say it with a candor as far removed from ar- 
rogance as from a false modesty, never has a people testified 
in a manner more direct, spontaneous, and unanimous the de- 
sire to be freed from anxieties as to the future by consolida- 
ting in the same hands an authority which is in sympathy with 
them. It is because they know at this hour both the false 
hopes with which they deluded themselves and the dangers 
with which they are threatened. They knew that in 1852 so- 
ciety would hasten to its destruction, because each party was 
consoling itself in advance of the general ship-wreck with the 
hope of planting its banner upon the ruins which might float 
on the surface. They are thankful to me for having saved 
the ship, merely by raising the banner of France. 

Disabused of absurd theories, the people have acquired the 



Evolution of the Second Empire 559 

conviction that the pretended reformers were only dreamers, 
becar.se there was always inconsistency and disproportion be- 
tween their means and the results promised. 

To-day, France encompasses me with her sympathies, be- 
cause I am not of the family of the ideologists. In order to 
secure the welfare of the country, it is not necessary to ap- 
ply new systems ; but, before everything else, to inspire confi- 
dence in the present and security for the future. That is 
why France seems to wish to return to the Empire. 

There is, nevertheless, a fear which I must refute. In a 
spirit of distrust, certain persons declare : The Empire means 
war. But I say: The Empire means peace. 

It means peace, because France desires it, and, when France 
is satisfied, the world is tranquil. Glory, indeed, is be- 
queathed by hereditary title, but not war. Did the princes 
who justly -thought themselves honored in being the grand- 
sons of Louis XIV recommence his struggles? War is not 
made for pleasure, but by necessity; and at these epochs of 
transition in which everywhere, by the side of so many ele- 
ments of prosperity, as many causes of death shoot up, it 
can be said with truth : Woe to him who first should give in 
Europe the signal of a collision whose consequences would 
be incalculable ! 

I admit, however, that I, like the Emperor, have indeed 
conquests to make, 1 wish, like him, to conquer for concil- 
iation the hostile parties and to bring into the current of the 
great popular stream the hostile factions which are now 
ruining themselves without profit to anybody. 

I wish to conquer for religion, morality, and comfortable 
living that part of the population still so numerous, which, 
in the midst 01 a country of faith and belief, scarcely knows 
of the precepts of Christ ; which, in the midst of the most 
fertile land in the world, can scarcely enjoy products of first 
necessity. 

We have enormous uncultivated territories to clear, routes 
to open, harbors to deepen, rivers to make navigable, canals 
to finish, and our network of railroads to complete. We 
have opposite Marseilles an enormous kingdom to assimilate 
to France. We have to connect all of our great western 
ports with the American continent by those rapid communi- 
cations which we still lack. In fine, we have everywhere 



S6o Evolution of the Second Empire 

ruins to raise again, false gods to cast down, and truths to 
inake triumphant. 

That is how I shall understand the Empire, if the Em- 
pire is to be re-established. Such are the conquests which 
I meditate, atid all of you who surround me, who wish, like 
myself, the welfare cf our fatherland, you are my soldiers. 

D. Senatus-Consultum upon the Empire. November 7, 
1852. Duvergier, Lois, LIl, 680-682. 

The Senate has deliberated, in conformity with articles 31 
and 32 of the constitution, and voted the senatus-consultum 
xvhose tenor follows : 

1. The imperial dignity is re-established. 
Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte is Emperor of the French, un- 
der the name of Napoleon III. 

2. The imperial dignity is hereditary in the direct and 
legitimate descendants of Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, from 
male to male, by order of primogeniture, and to the perpet- 
ual exclusion of women and their descendants. 

3. Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, if he has no male chil- 
dren can adopt legitimate children and descendants in the 
masculine line of the brothers of the Emperor Napoleon L 

The forms of adoption are regulated by a senatus-consul- 
tum. 

If, after the adoption, male children should come to Lou- 
is-Napoleon, his adopted sons can be called to succeed him 
only after his legitimate descendants. 

Adoption is forbidden to the successors of Louis-Napo- 
leon and their descendants. 

4. Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte regulates, by an organic 
decree addressed to the Senate and deposited in its archives, 
the order of succession to the throne within the Bonaparte 
family, for the case that he should not leave any direct heir, 
legitimate or adopted. 

5. In default of a legitimate or adopted heir of Louis- 
Napoleon Bonaparte, and of successors in the collateral line 
who shall take their right in the above mentioned organic 
decree, a senatus-consultum, proposed to the Senate by the 
ministers formed into council of government with the addi- 
tion of acting presidents of the Senate, the Legislative Body 



Evolution of the Second Empire 561 

and the Council of State, and submitted to the acceptance 
of the people, appoints the Emperor and regulates within 
his family the hereditary order from male to male, to the 
perpetual exclusion of women and their descendants. 

Up to the moment at which the election of the new Em- 
peror is consummated, the affairs of state are controlled by 
the ministers on duty, who form themselves into council of 
government and deliberate by majority of votes. 

6.^ The members of the family of Louis-Napoleon Bona- 
parte summoned eventually to the inheritance and their de- 
scendants of both sexes, form part of the imperial family. 
A senatus-consultum. regulates their position. They cannot 
marry without the authorisation of the Emperor. Marriage 
made by them without that authorisation involves loss of all 
right to the inheritance, both for the one who has contracted 
it and for his descendants. 

Nevertheless, if there are no children from that marriage, 
in case of its dissolution because of death, the prince who 
had contracted it recovers his rights to the inheritance. 

Louis-Napoleon Bonaparle fixes the titles and the station 
of the other m.embers of his family. 

The Emperor has full authority over all members of his 
family ; he regulates their duties and their obligations by 
statutes v/hich have the force of law. 

The constitution of January 14, 1852, is maintained in all 
those of its provisions which are not contrary to the present 
senatus-consultum ; modifications m it can be effected only in 
the forms and by the means which it has. provided. 

8. The following proposition shall be presented for the 
acceptance of the French people in the forms fixed by the de- 
crees of December 2 and 4, 1851. 

"The French people wish the re-establishment of the im- 
perial dignity in the person of Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, 
with inheritance in his direct descendants, legitimate or 
adopted, and give to him the right to regulate the order of 
succession,' to the throne within the Bonaparte family, as is 
provided for by the senatus-consultum of November 7, 1852." 



562 The Congress of Paris 

115. Documents upon the Congress of Paris. 

These docuraeuts, representing the principal results of the 
internationsl congress at the close of the Crimean war, are im- 
portaut from many slandpoints- Three of these deserve special 
attention. (1) As the Crimean war was in large measure due to 
rivalry for international prestige, they may be examined to as- 
certain what direct and immediate advantages or disadvantages 
accrued to each state. (2) As a new settlement of the Eastern 
Problem was effected in these documents its various features 
should be carefully noted, e. g., the alteration in the position of 
Turkey, the status provided for the christian states of the Balkan 
peninsula, the control over the Black Sea and Dardanelles. (3) 
As a number of long-disputed international law questions were 
definitively settled, notice should be takeu of what these were, the 
method provided for their settlement, and the principles finally 
accepted. 

Refeke]sces. Fyffe. jl/o(/crn Europe, III, 227-240 (Popular ed., 
856-865) ; Seignobos, Europe mnce 181!,, 789-792 ; Phillips, Mod- 
ern Europe, 357-360 ; Andrews, Modern Europe, II, 77-90 ; La- 
visse and Eambaud, Ilistoire generate, XI, 220-226. 

A. Treaty of Paris. March 30, 1856. De Clercq, Traites, 
VII, 59-68. Translation based on that of Hertslet, Map of 
Europe by Treaty, 1250-1265. 

Their Majesties the Queen of the United Kingdom of 
Great Britain and Ireland, the Emperor of the French, the 
Emperor of all the Rtissias, the King of Sardinia, and the 
Emperor of the Ottomans, animated by the desire to put an 
end to the calamities cf war, and wishing to prevent the re- 
turn of the complications which occasioned it, resolved to 
come to an understanding with His Majesty the Emperor of 
Austria as to the bases on which peace might be re-estab- 
lished and consolidated, by securing through effectual and 
reciprocal guarantees, the independence and integrity of the 
Ottoman Empire. 

[The omitted passage names the plenipotentiaries and 
makes Prussia a party to the treaty.] 

1. From the day of the exchange of the ratifications of 
the present treaty there shall be peace and friendship be- 
tween Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of 
Great Britain and Ireland, His Majesty the Emperor of the 
French, His Majesty the King of Sardinia, His Imperial 
Majesty the Sultan, on the one part, and His Majesty the 
Emperor of all the Russias, on the other part ; as well as be- 



The Congress of Paris 563 

tween their heirs and successors, their respective dominions 
and subjects, in perpetuity. 

7. Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of 
Great Britain and Ireland, His Majesty the Emperor of Aus- 
tria, His Majesty the Emperor of the French, His Majesty 
the King of Prussia, His Majesty the Emperor of all the 
Russias, and His Majesty the King of Sardinia, declare the 
Sublime Porte admitted to participate in the advantages of 
the public lavi^ and the concert of Europe. Their Majesties 
engage, each on his part, to respect the independence and the 
territorial integrity of the Ottoman Empire, guaranteeing in 
common the strict observance of that engagement; and will 
in consequence consider any act tending to its violation as 
a question of general interest. 

8. H there should arise between the Sublime Porte and 
one or more of the other signatory powers any misunder- 
standing which might endanger the maintenance of their re- 
lations, the Sublime Porte and each of such powers, before 
having recourse to the use of force, shall afford the other 
contracting parties the opportunity of preventing such an ex- 
tremity by means of their mediation. 

9. His Imperial Majesty the Sultan having, in his con- 
stant solicitude for the welfare of his subjects, issued a fir- 
man, which, while ameliorating their condition without dis- 
tinction of religion or of race, records his generous inten- 
tions towards the christian population of his empire, and 
wishing to give a further proof of his sentiments in that re- 
spect, has resolved to communicate to the contracting par- 
ties the said firman, emanating spontaneously from his sov- 
ereign will. 

The contracting powers recognize the high value of this 
communication. It is clearly understood that it cannot, in 
any case, give to the said powers the right to interfere, either 
collectively or separately, in the relations of His Majesty the 
Sultan with his subjects, nor in the internal administration 
of his empire. 

10. The convention of the 13th of July, 1841, which 
maintains the ancient rule of the Ottoman Empire relative 
to the closing of the straits of the Bosphorus and of the Dar- 
danelles, has been revised by common consent. 



564 The Congress of Paris 

The act concluded for that purpose and in conformity 
with that principle, between the high contracing paries, is 
and remains annexed to the present treaty, and shall have the 
same force and validity as if it formed an integral part there- 
of. 

II. The Black Sea is neutralized; its waters and its 
ports, thrown open to the mercantile marine of every nation, 
are formally and in perpetuitj^ interdicted to the flag of war, 
whether of the powers possessing its coasts, or of any other 
power, with the exceptions mentioned in Articles 14 and 19 
of the present treaty. 

15. The Act of the Congress of Vienna, having estab- 
lished the principles intended to regulate the navigation of 
rivers which separate or traverse different states, the con- 
tracting powers stipulate among themselves that those prin- 
ciples shall in future be likewise applied to the Danube and 
its months. They declare that its arrangement henceforth 
forms a part of the public law of Europe, and take it under 
their guarantee. 

[Articles 13, 14, and 19 forbid Russia and Turkey to erect 
fortifications along the Black Sea or to maintain warships 
upon its waters except two vessels of each power for police 
purposes.] 

20. [Provides for a rectification of the Russian frontier 
toward Bessarabia, whereby Russia lost some territory and 
was cut off from contact with the Danube.] 

22. The Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia shall 
continue to enjoy under the suzerainty of the Porte, and 
under the guarantee of the contracting powers, the privilges 
and immunities of v^rhich they are in possession. No exclu- 
sive protection shall be exercised over them by any of the 
guaranteeing powers. 

There shall be no separate right of interference in their 
internal affairs. 

23. The Sublime Porte engages to preserve to the said 
principalities an independent and national administration, as 
well as full liberty of worship, legislation, commerce, and 
navigation. 



The Congress of Paris 563 

28. The Principality of Servia shall continue to hold of 
the Sublime Porte, in conformity with the imperial hats 
which fix and determine its rights and immunities, placed 
henceforth under the collective guarantee of the contracting 
power?. 

In consequence, the said principality shall preserve its 
independence and national administration, as well as full 
liberty of worship, legislation, commerce, and navigation. 

30. His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias and His 
Majesty the Sultan maintain in its integrity the state of their 
possessions in A.sia, such as it legally existed before the rup- 
ture. . . . 

B. The Dardanelles Convention. March 26, 1856. Herts- 
let, Map of Europe by Treaty, 1266-1269. 

Their Majesties the Queen of the United Kingdom of 
Great Britain and Ireland, the Emperor of Austria, the Em- 
peror of the French, the King of Prussia, the Emperor of 
all the Russias, signing parties to the convention of the 13th 
day of July, 1841, and His Majesty the King of Sardinia; 
wishing to record in common their unanimous determination 
to conform to the ancient rule of the Ottoman Empire, ac- 
cording to which the straits of the Dardanelles and of the 
Bcsphorus are closed to foreign ships of war, so long as the 
Porte is at peace ; 

Their said Majesties, on the one part, and His Majesty 
the Sultan, on the other, have resolved to renew the con- 
vention concluded at London on the 13th day of July, 1841, 
with the exception of some modifications of detail which do 
not affect the principle upon which it rests ; 

His Majesty the Sultan, on the one part, declares that 
he is hrmly resolved to maintain for the future the principle 
invariably established as the ancient rule of his Empire, and 
in virtue of which it has, at all times, been prohibited for the 
ships of war of foreign powers to enter the straits of the 
Dardanelles and of the Bosphorus; and that, so long as the 
Porte is at peace. His Majesty will admit no foreign ship of 
war into the said straits. 

And their Majesties the Queen of the United Kingdom of 



566 The Congress of Paris 

Great Britain and Ireland, the Emperor of Austria, the Em- 
peror of the French, the King of Prussia, the Emperor of all 
the Russias, and the King of Sardinia, on the other part, en- 
gage to respect this determination of the Sultan, and to con- 
form themselves to the principle above declared. 



C. Declaration Respecting Maritime Power. April ' i6, 
1856. De Clercq, Traites, VII, 91-92. Translation based on 
?hat of Hertslet, Maj) of Europe by Treaty, 1282-1284. 

The plenipotentiaries who signed the treaty of Paris of 
the 30tli of March, 1856, assembled in conference, — 

Considering: 

That maritime law, in time of war, has long been the 
subject of deplorable disputes ; 

That the uncertainty of the law and of the duties in such 
a matter, gives rise to differences of opinion between neu- 
trals and belligerents which may occasion . serious difficulties, 
and even conflicts; 

That it is consequently advantageous to establish a uni- 
form doctrine on so important a point ; 

That the plenipotentiaries assembled at the Congress of 
Paris cannot better respond to the intentions by which their 
governments are animated, than by seeking to introduce into 
international relations fixed principles in this respect; 

The above-mentioned plenipotentiaries, being duly author- 
ised, resolved to concert among themselves as to the means of 
attaining this object; and, having come to an agreement, have 
adopted the following solemn declaration : 

1. Privateering is, and remains, abolished; 

2. The neutral flag covers enemy's goods, with the ex- 
ception of contraband of war ; 

3. Neutral goods, with the exception of contraband of 
war, are not liable to capture under the enemy's flag; 

4. Blockades, in order to be binding, must be effective, 
that is to say, maintained by a force sufficient really to pre- 
vent access to the coast of the enemy. 

The governments of the undersigned plenipotentiaries 
engage to bring the present declaration to the knowledge of 



The Italian War of 1859 567 

the states which ha^e not taken part in the Congress of Paris, 
and to invite them to accede to it. 

Convinced that the maxims which they now proclaim can- 
not but be received with gratitude by the whole world, the 
undersigned plenipotentiaries doubt not that the efforts of 
their governments to obtain the general adoption thereof, will 
be crowned with full success. 

The present declaration is not, and shall not be binding, 
except between those powers who have acceded, or shall ac- 
cede, to it. 

Done at Paris, the i6th of April, 1856. 



116. Documents upon the Italian War o£ 1859. 

The principal purpose of this group of documents is to throw 
light upon fivo features of the subject to which they relate. (1) 
Documents A and B sliow liow the issue of war as between Aus- 
tria and Piedmont was joined. (2) Document C may be regarded 
as an official defence and announcement of the purpose of French 
participation hi the war. (3) From document D something may 
be learned of what the Italians expected from French assistance. 
(4) Documents E and F sliow the terms upon which the war was 
concluded and the settlement of the Italian question intended by 
Napoleon III. (5) ]Document <i shows the compensation exacted 
by France for its participation in the war. 

Refebencks. Fyfte, Modern Europe, III, 2.51-281 (Popular ed., 
87H-S92»; Seignobos. Euiope Hince IStlf, 7»S'797 ; Andrews, Mod- 
ern Europe. II, 112-14.3 : Cesaresco, Cuiour, Chs. viii-x ; Still- 
man, Vni'in of Itahi. Ch. xir : King, Italian Unity, II. 4.5-.51 ; 55- 
57, 61-70 , 77-82, 115-122 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire gen- 
erale, Xf, 268-276; La Gorce, Second empire, II, 436-440, 448, III, 
109-113, 209-2] 2. 

A. The Austrian Ultimatum. April ig, 1859. Angeberg, 
TtaitFS concernant J'Autriche et Vltalie, 77S-77^- Translation 
based upon that of Hertslet, Map of Europe by Treaty, 13SQ- 
1360. 

The Imperial Government, as your excellency is aware^ 
has hastened to accede to the proposal of the cabinet of 
St. Petersburg to assemble a congress of the five powers with 
the view to remove the complications which have arisen in 
Italy. 

Convinced, however, of the impossibility of entering witli 
any chance of success upon pacific deliberations in the midst 
of the noise of arms and of preparations for war carried on in 
a neighboring country, we have demanded the placing on a 



568 The Italian War of 1859 

peace footing of the Sardinian army and the disbanding of 
the free corps or Italian volunteers, prior to the meeting of 
the congress. 

Her Britannic Majesty's government finds this condition 
so just and so consonant with the exigencies of the situation 
that It did not hesitate to adopt it, at the same time declaring 
itself ready, in conjunction with France, to insist on the im- 
mediate disarmament of Sardinia, and to^ offer her in return 
a coilective guarantee against any attack on our part, to 
which, of course, Austria would have done honor. 

The cabinet of Turin seems to have answered only by 
a categorical refusal of the invitation tO' put her army on a 
peace footing, and to accept the collective guarantee which 
was offered her. 

This refusal inspires us with regrets, so much the more 
deep as, if the Sardinian government had consented to the 
testimony of pacific sentiments which was demanded of her, 
we should have accepted it as a first indication of her intein- 
tion to co-operate on her side, in bringing about an improve- 
ment in the relations between the two countries which have 
unfortuiiately been in such a state of tension for some years 
past. In that case, it would have been permitted us to fur- 
nish, by the breaking up of the imperial troops stationed in 
the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom, another proof that they 
were not assembled for the purpose of aggression against Sar- 
dinia. 

Onr hope having been hitherto deceived, the Emperor, my 
august master, has ordered me to make directly a last effort 
to cause the Sardinian government to reconsider the decision 
which it seems to have resolved on. 

Such, Count, is the object of this letter. I have the honour 
to entreat your excellency to take its contents into your most 
serious consideration and to let me know whether the royal 
government consents, yes or no, to put its army on a peace 
footing without delay and to disband the Italian volunteers. 

7"he bearer of this letter, to whom, Count, you will be 
so good as to give your answer, has orders to hold himself at 
your disposition for this purpose during three days. 

If, at the expiration of this term, he should receive no 
answer, or if this answer should- not be completely satisfac- 
tory, the responsibility for the grave events which that refusal 



The Italian War of 1859 569 

will involve will fall entirely upon the government of His 
Sardinian Majesty. After having exhausted in vain all the 
means of conciliation in order to procure for his peoples the 
guarantee of peace, upon which the Emperor has the right 
to insist, His Majesty must, to his great regret, have recourse 
to force of arms tO' obtain it. 

In the hope that the answer which I solicit of your Ex- 
cellency will be congenial to our wishes for the maintenance 
of peace, I seize, &c., 

Signed, BuoL. 

To C. Cavour. 

B. Reply of Sardinia. April 26, 1859. Angeberg, Traites 
conccrnant rAutriche ct I'ltalie, jyy. Translation based on 
that of Hertslet, Map of Europe by Treaty, 1361. 

Thie question of the disarmament of Sardinia, which con- 
stitutes the basis of the demand which your Excellency ad- 
dresses to me, has been the subject of numerous negotiations 
between the great powers and the government of the . king. 
These negotiations led to a proposition drawn up by England, 
to which France, Prussia, and Russia adhered. Sardinia, ift 
a spirit of conciliation, accepted it without reserve or after- 
thought. Since your Excellency can neither be ignorant 
either of the proposition of England nor the answer, I could 
add nothing in order to make known the intentions of the 
government of the king with regard to the difficulties which 
were opposed tO' the assembling of the Congress. 

The decided conduct of Sardinia has been appreciated 
by Europe. Whatever may be the consequences which it 
entails, the king, my august master, is convinced that the 
responsibility will devolve upon them who first armed, who 
have refused the propositions made by a great power, and 
recognized as just and reasonable by the others, and who now 
substitute a menacing summons in its stead. 

C. Proclamation of Napoleon HI. May 3, 1859. De 
Clercq, Traites, VH, 606-607. 

Frenchmen ! 

Austria, in causing its army to enter the territory of the 



570 The Italian War of 1859 

King of Sardinia, our ally, declares war upon us. It thus 
violates treaties and justice, and threatens our frontiers. All 
the great powers have protested against that aggression. 
Piedmont having accepted conditions which should have as- 
sured peace, it may be asked what can be the reason for this 
sudden invasion. It is because Austria has brought matters 
to that extremity, that it is necessary she should dominate to 
the Alps, or that Italy should be free to the Adriatic; for 
in that country, every corner of land that remains independ- 
ent is in danger for its power. 

Up to the present, moderation has been the rule of my 
conduct ; now energy becomes my first duty. 

Let France arm itself and say resolutely to Europe : I do 
not wish for conquest, but I am determined to maintain with- 
out feebleness my national and traditional policy; I observe 
treaties, on condition that they shall not be violated against 
me ; I respect the territory and the rights of neutral powers, 
but I openly avow my sympathy for a people whose history 
is bound up with ours, and who groan under foreign oppres- 
sion. ■ 

France has shov.^n her hatred of anarchy; she has been 
pleased to give me an authority strong enough to reduce to 
impotence the abettors of disorder and the incorrigible men of 
those former parties who are seen incessantly making 
covenants with our enemies; but she has not for that abdi- 
cated her function as a civilizer. Her natural allies have al- 
ways been those who desire the improvement of humanity, 
and when she draws her sword, it is not in order to domi- 
neer, but to liberate. 

The purpose of this war, then, is to restore Italy to herself 
and not Lo cause her to change her master, and we shall have 
upon our frontiers a friendly people, wdio will owe their in- 
dependence to us. 

We are not going into Italy to foment disorder nor to 
shake the authority of the Holy Father, whom we have re- 
placed upon his throne, but to secure it against that foreign 
pressure which weighs upon the whole peninsula and to have 
a share in establishing order there out of legitimate satisfied 
interests. 

We are, in fine, in that classic land, made illustrious by 



The Italian War of 1859 571 

so many victories, about to follow in the footsteps of our 
fathers ; God grant that we may be worthy of them ! 

I shall shortly place myself at the head of the army. I 
leave in France the Empress and my son. Seconded by the 
experience and enlightenment of the last surviving brother of 
the Emperor, she will be able to show herself not inferior to 
her mission. 

I entrust them to the valor of our arm}' which remains in 
France to look after our frontiers, as well as to protect our 
domestic hearth; I entrust them to the patriotism of the 
national guard ; I entrust them, in fine, to the entire people, 
who will surround them with that love and devotion of which 
each day I receive so many proofs. 

Courage then and union ! Our country is about to show 
the world once again that it has not degenerated. Providence 
will bless our efforts; for the cause which is based upon jus- 
tice, humanity, love of fatherland and of independence, is holy 
in the eves of God. 



Napoleon. 



Palace of the Tuileries, May 3, 1859. 



D. Proclamation to the Italians. June 8, 1S59. Mon- 
iteur, June 12, 1859. 

Italians, 

The fortune of war bringing me to-day into the capital of 
Eombardy, I am about to tell you why I am here. 

When Austria unjustly attacked Piedmont, I resolved to 
support my ally, the King of Sardinia, the honor and interests 
of France making it a duty for me. Your enemies, who are 
mine, have tried to diminish the universal sympathy, which 
there has been in Europe for your cause, by seeking to make 
it thought that I was making war only through personal 
ambition or to increase the territoi-y of France. If there are 
men who do net understand this epoch, I am not of the num- 
ber. 

In the enlightened state of public opinion at present, one 
is greater through the moral influence which he exerts llian 
through sterile conquests ; and that moral influence I seek 
after with pride in contributing to make free one of the most 
beautiful parts of Europe. 



572 The Italian War of 1859 

Yoiir welcome has alreadj'' proven to me that j'ou do not 
misunderstand me. I do not come here with a preconceived 
system in order to dispossess sovereigns nor to impose my 
will npor you; my army will occupy itself only with two 
things; to fight your enemies, and to maintain internal order; 
it will not interpose any obstacle to the free manifestation of 
your legitimate desires. Providence sometimes favors peoples 
just as it does individuals by giving them the opportunity to 
become great all at once; but it is on condition that they 
know how to profit thereby. Profit, then, by the fortune 
which is offered you. 

Your desire for independence so long made known, so 
often deceived, will be lealized if you vvfill show yourselves 
worthy of it. Unite then in a single aim. the liberation of 
your country. Organize militarily. Flock under the banners 
of Victor Emmanuel, who has already so nobly shown you 
the waj"^ of honor. Remember that without discipline there is 
no army; and, animated by the sacred fire of patriotism, be 
to-day only soldiers ; to-morrow, you shall be free citizens of 
a great country. 

Done at the imperial headquarters at Milan, June 8, 1859. 

Napoleon. 

E. Peace preliminaries of Villafranca. July 11, 1859. De 
Clercq, Traites, VII, 617-618. Translation based upon that 
of Hertslet, Map of Europe by Treaty, 1374-1375. 

Between His Majesty the Emperor of Austria and His 
Majesty the Emperor of the French, it has been agreed as 
follows : 

The two sovereigns favour the creation of an Italian con- 
federation. This confederation shall be under the honorary 
presidency of the Floly Father. 

The Emperor of Austria cedes to the Emperor of the 
French his rights over Lombardy, with the exception of 
the fortresses cf Mantua and Peschiera, so that the frontier 
of the Austrian possessions shall start from the outer edge 
of the fortress of Peschiera, and extend in a straight line , 
along the Mincio as far as Legrazia ; thence to Szarzarola and 
Suzana on the Po from whence the existing frontiers shall 
continue to form the boundaries of Austria. The Emperoi 



The Italian War of 1859 573 

of the French shall transfer the ceded territory to the King 
of Sardinia. 

Venetia shall form part of the Italian confederation, re- 
maining, however, subject to the crown of the Emperor of 
Austria. 

The Grand Duke of Tuscany and the Duke of Modena 
return to their states, granting a general amnesty. 

The two emperors shall request the Holy Father to intro- 
duce in his states some indispensable reforms. 

Full and complete amnesty is granted on both sides to 
persons compromised on the occasion of the recent events 
in the territories of the belligerents. 

Done at Villafranca, nth .July, 1859. 

Napoleon. Fkancis Joseph. 

F. Treaty of Zurich. November 10, 1859. De Clercq, 
Traitcs, VIl, 643-649. Translation based upon that of Herts- 
let, Map of Europe by Treaty, 1380-1391. 

In the name of Uie Most Holy and Indivisible Trinity. 

His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, and His Majesty the 
Emperor of the French, desirous of putting an end to the 
calamities of war, and of preventing the recurrence of the 
complications which gave rise to it, by assisting to place up- 
on solid and durable bases the internal and external iiidepend- 
ence of Italy, have resolved to convert into a definitive treaty 
of peace the preliminaries signed by their hands at Villa- 
franca. 

I. There shall be in the future peace and friendship be- 
tween His Majesty the Emperor of Austria and His Majesty 
the Emperor of the French, as also between thear heirs and 
successors, their respective states and subjects, forever. 

4. His Majesty the Emperor of Austria renounces, for 
himself and all his descendants and successors, in favor of 
His Majesty the Emperor of the French, his rights, and titles 
to Lcmbardy, with the exception of the fortresses of Peschiera 
and Mantua, and the territories determined by the new de- 
lim.itation, which remain in the possession of His Imperial 
and Royal Apostolic Majesty. 



574 The Italian War of 1859 

5. His Majesty the Emperor of the French declares his 
intention of handing over to His Majesty the King of Sardin- 
ia the territories ceded by the preceding article. 

18. His Majesty the Emperor of Austria and His Majesty 
the Emperor of the French engage to make every effort to 
encourage the creation of a confederation among the Italian 
states, which shall be placed under the honorary presidency of 
the Holy Father, and the object of which shall be to uphold 
the independence and inviolability of the confederated states, 
to assure the development of their moral and material inter- 
ests, and to guarantee the internal and external safety of 
Italy by the existence of a federal army. 

Vcnetia, which remains subject to the crown of His Im- 
perial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, will form one of the 
states of this confederation, and will participate in the obli- 
gations, as in the rights resulting from the federal pact, the 
clauses of which shall be determined by an assembly com- 
posed of the representatives of all the Italian states. 

19. As the territorial delimitation .of the independent 
states of Italy which took no part in the late war, cart be 
changed only with the sanction of the powers who presided 
at their formation and recognized their existence, the rights 
of the Grand Duke ol I'uscany, the Duke of Modena, and the 
Duke of Parma, are expressly reserved by the high contract- 
ing parties. 

20. Desirous of seeing the tranquility of the States of the 
Church and the power of the Holy Father assured ; convinced 
that this object could not be more efficaciously attained than 
by the adoption of a system suited to the wants of the pop- 
ulations and conformable to the generous intentions already 
manifested by the Sovereign Pontiff, His Majesty the Em- 
peror of the French and His Majesty the Emperor of Austria 
will "unite their efforts to obtain irom His Holiness that the 
necessity of introducing into the administration of his states 
the reforms, recognized as indispensable shall be taken into se- 
rious consideration by his government. 

G. Treaty of Turin, March 24, .i860. De Clercq, Traifes, 
VIII. 32-35. Translation based upon that of Hertslet, Map 
of Europe by Treaty, 1429-1431. 



Evolution of the Liberal Empire 575 

In the Name of the Most Holy and Indivisible Trinity. 

His Majesty the Emperor of the French having explained 
the considerations which, in consequence of the changes which 
have arisen in the territorial relations between France and 
Sardinia, caused him to desire the annexation of Savoy and 
the district of Nice (circondario di Nizza) to France, and 
His Majesty the King of Sardinia having shown himself dis- 
posed to acquiesce therein their said Majesties have decided 
to conclude a treaty for that purpose, 

I. His Majesty the King of Sardinia consents to the 
union of Savoy and the district of Nice {circondario di Niz- 
za) to France, and renounces for himself, and all his descend- 
ants and successors, in favour of His Majesty the Emperor of 
the French, his rights and titles over the said territories. It 
is understood between their Majesties that this union shall 
be etifected without any constraint of the wishes of the pop- 
ulations, and that the governments of the Emperor of the 
French and of the King of Sardinia will plan together as 
soon as possible upon the best means to ascertain and estab- 
lish the manifestation of those wishes. 

117. Documents upon the Evolution of the 
Liberal Empire. 

These documents show the steps by which the autocratic re- 
gime of the first eight years of the Second Empire was gradually 
modified and the character of the system finally evolved out of 
those changes. These things should be noted in connection with 
each document: (1) the concession nominally extended; (2) re- 
strictions and oualiCcations placed upon the concessions , if any ; 
(3) concessions withdrawn to counterbalance those extended, if 
any. • 

Ri^FEKBNCES, Dickiuson, Revolution and Reaction in Modern 
France, 2l'l»-2;:!l ; Seignobos. IJurojie Since ISII,, 176-184: Andrews, 
Modern Europe, II, 169-186, passim; Lavisse and Rambaud, His- 
toire gencrale, XI. 162-193, pafsim; La Gorce, Second empire, HI, 
442-44T. IV. 144-1 .">4, V, 346-350. 493-505 : .Taures. Ilistoire so- 
ciaiisic, X, 120. 144-146, 282-283, 3S4-3S6 ; Rambaud, CiviUsation 
contemporaine, 520-523. 

A. Decree of the 24th of November. November 24, i860. 
Duvergier, Lois, LX, 592-593. 

Napoleon, etc., wishirig to give to the great bodies of the 
state a more direct participation in the general policy of our 
government and a striking testimonial of our confidence, we 
have decreed: 



576 Evolution of the Liberal Empire 

1. The Senate and the Legislative Body shall vote every 
year at the opening of tlie session, an address in response to 
our speech. 

2. The address shall be discussed in the presence of the 
commissioners of the government, who shall give to the cham- 
bers all the necessary 'explanations upon the internal and for- 
eign policy of the Empire. 

3. In order to facilitate for the Legislative Body the ex- 
pression of its opinion in the formation of the laws and the 
exercise of the right of amendment, article 54 of our decree 
of March 22, 1852, is again put in force, and the rule of the 
Legislative Body, is modified in the following manner : 

"Imiriediately after the distribution of the projects of law 
and upon the day fixed by the president, the Legislative Body, 
before appointing its commission, meets in secret committee ; 
a concise discussion is opened upon the project of law, and 
the commissioners of the government take part in it." 

"The present provision is not applicable to projects of 
law of local interest nor in the case of urgency." 

4. With the intent of rendering the reproduction of the 
debates of the Senate and the Legislative Body, more prompt 
and more complete, the following project for a senatus- 
consultum shall be presented to- the Senate : 

"The minutes of the sittings of the Senate and the Legis- 
lative Body, drawn up by the secretary-editors placed under 
the authority of the president of each assembly, are addressed 
each evening to all the newspapers. In addition, the debates 
oi each sitting are reproduced by stenography and inserted in 
c.vtenso in the official newspaper of the next day." 

5. The Emperor shall designate ministers without port- 
folio to defend before the chambers, in concert with the pres- 
ident and members of the Council of State, the projects of law 
of the government.. 

6. The ministers without portfolio have the rank and the 
compensation of the ministers in office ; they form part of 
the council of ministers and are housed at the expense of the 
state. 

7. Our minister of State (M. Walewski) is charged, etc. 



Evolution of the Liberal Empire 577 

B. Senatus-Consultum upon the Publication of Debates. 
February 2, 1861. Duvergier, Lois, LXI, 50-58. 

Article .42 of the Constitution is modified as follows: 

The debates of the- sittings of the Senate and the Legis- 
lative Body are reproduced bj^ stenography and inserted in 
extcnso in the official newspaper of the next day. 

Li addition, the minutes of these sittings, drawn up by the 
secretary-editors placed under the authority of the president of 
each assembly, are put each evening at the disposal of all the 
newspapers. 

The reports of the sittings of the Senate and the Legisla- 
tive Body by the newspapers, or any other method of publica- 
tion, shall consist only in the reproduction of the debates in- 
serted in extenso in the official newspaper, or the report drawn 
up under the authority of the president, in conformity with 
the preceding paragraphs. 

Nevertheless, when several projects or petitions have been 
discussed in one session, it shall be permissible to reproduce 
only the debates relative to one of these projects or to a single 
one of these petitions. Li that case, if the discussion is pro- 
longed through several sittings, the publication must be con- 
tinued up to and including the vote thereon. 

The Senate, upon the request of five members, can decide 
to form itself into secret committee. 

Article 13 of the senatus-ccnsultum of December 25, 1852, 
is abrogated in whatever is contrary to the present senatus- 
consultnm. 

C. Senatus-Consultum upon the Budget. December 31, 
1861. Duvergier, Lois, LXI, 553-579. 

1. The budget of the expenses is presented to the Legis- 
lative Body with its divisions into sections, chapters and ar- 
ticles. 

The budget of each ministry is voted by sections, in con- 
formity with the nomenclature appended to the present sena- 
tus-consultum. 

The distribution, by chapters, of the credits granted for 
each section, is regulated by decree of the Emperor, rendered 
in Council of State. 

^. Special decrees, rendered in the same form, can author- 
ise transfers from one chapter to another in the budget of each 
ministry. 



578 Evolution of the Liberal Empire 

3. Supplementary or extraordinary credits can be granted 
only by virtue of a law. 

4. The provisions of existing laws in that which concerns 
the expenses of secret services, remaining to be paid, the ex- 
penses of the departments, the communes, and the local serv- 
ices, and the assistance funds for expenses of public interest 
are not altered. 

5. Articles 4 and 12 of the senatus-consultum of December 
25, 1852, ar.e modified wherein they are contrary to the pres- 
ent senatus-consultum. 

[The nomenclature alluded to in article i is omitted.] 

D. Imperial Decree upon Interpellation. January 19, 1867. 
Duvergier, Lois^ LXVII, 21-22. 

Napoleon, etc., wishing to give to the discussions of the 
great bodies of state upon the foreign and internal policy of 
the government more utility and more accuracy, we have de- 
creed: 

1. The members of the Senate and the Legislative Body, 
can address interpellations to the government. 

2. Every request for interpellation must be written and 
signed by at least five members. This request explains briefly 
the object of the interpellation; it is delivered to the pres- 
ident, who communicates it to the mmister of state and sends 
it to the examination of the' bureaux. 

3. If two bureaux of the Senate or four bureaux of the 
Legislative Body express the opinion that the interpellation 
may take place, the chamber fixes the day of the discussion. 

4. After the closure of the discussion, the chamber pro- 
nounces the order of the day pure and simple or sends it again 
to the government. 

5. The order of the day pure and simple has always prior- 
ity. 

6. The sending again to the government can be declared 
only in the following terms : "The Senate (or the Legislative 
Body) calls the attention of the government to the subject of 
the interpellation." In this case, an epitome of the delibera- 
tion is transmitted to the minister of state. 

7. Each of the ministers, by special delegation of the Em- 
peror, can be charged, in concert with the minister of state. 



Evolution of the Liberal Empire 579 

and the president and the members of the Council of State, 
to represent the government before the Senate and the Legis- 
lative Body, in the discussion of affairs or of the projects of 
law. 

8. Articles i and 2 of our decree of November 24, i860, 
which enacted that the Senate and the Legislative Body should 
vote every >ear at the opening of the session an address in 
response to our speech, are abrogated. 

g. Our minister of State (M. Rouher) is charged, etc.. 

E. Senatus-Consultum. September 8, 1869. Duvergier, 
Lois, LXIX, 268-289. 

1. The Emperor and the Legislative Body have the in- 
troduction of the laws. 

2. Th^ ministers are dependent only upon the Emperor. 
They deliberate in council under his presidency. 

They are responsible. 
They can be put in accusation only by the Senate. 

3. The ministers can be members of the Senate or the 
Legislative Body. 

They have entrance into both assemblies and must be heard 
whenever they demand it. 

4. The sitting's of the Senate are public. The request of 
five members suffices for it to form; itself into secret com- 
mittee. 

5. The Senate, in indicating the modifications of which a 
law seems to it susceptible, can decide that it shall be sent 
back for a new deliberation of the Legislative Body. 

It can, in any case, oppose the promulgation of the law. 

The law to the promulgation of which the Senate is op- 
posed cannot be again presented to the Legislative Body in 
the same session. 

6. At the opening of each session, the Legislative Body 
appoints its president, vice-presidents and secretaries. 

It appoints its questors. 

7. Every member of the Senate and of thfe Legislative 
Body has the right to address an interpellation to the govern- 
ment. 

Orders of the day, with statements of reasons, can be 
adopted. 



S8o Evolution of the Liberal Empire 

The return to the bureaux of an order of the day with a 
statement of reasons is a right when the government requests 
it. 

The bureaux appoint a commissian, upon the summary- 
report of which the assembly pronounces. 

8. No amendment can be p'Ut in dehberation unless it has 
been sent to the commission charged to examine the project 
nf law and conmiunicated to the government. 

When the government and the commission, do not agree, 
the Council of State gives its opinion and the Legislative 
Body pronounces. 

9. The budget of expenses is presented to the Legis- 
lative Body by chapters and articles. 

The budget of each ministry is voted by chapters, in con- 
formity with the nomenclature annexed to the present sena- 
tus-consultum. 

10. Future modifications by international treaties in the 
schedules of the custom-duties and the poscoffice shall become 
binding only in virtue of a law. 

11. The existing constitutional relations between the gov- 
ernment of the Emperor, the Senate, and the Legislative Body 
can be modified only by a senatus-consultum. 

The regular relations between these authorities are estab- 
lished by imperial decree. 

The Senate and the Legislative Body frame their own in- 
ternal regulations. 

12. All provisions contrary to the present senatus-con- 
sultum, and in particular articles 8 and 13, the second par- 
agraph of article 24, articles 26 and 40. the fifth paragraph of 
article 42, the first paragraph of article 43 and article 44 of 
the constitution ; articles 3 and 5 of the senatus-consultum of 
December 25, 1852; article i of the senatus-consultum of De- 
cember 31, 1861, are abrogated. 

[The nomenclature alluded to in article nine is omitted.] 

F. Senatus-Consultum. May 21, 1870. Duvergier, Lois, 
LXX, 123-128. 

Napoleon, etc., in view of our decree of April 23 last, 
which convoked the French people in their assemblies, in or- 
der to accept or reject the following plebiscite: 

"The people approve the liberal reforms effected in the 
constitution since i860 by the Emperor with the co-operation 



Evolution of the Liberal Empire 581 

of the great bodies of the state, and ratify the senatus-con- 
sultum of April 20, 1870;" 

In view of the declaration of the Legislative Body which 
attests tliat the operations of the vote *have been regularly 
carried out ; that the general return of the votes cast upon the 
project of plebiscite has given seven million three hundred 
and fifty thousand one hundred forty-two ballots bearing the 
word, yes ; fifteen hundred thirty-eight thousand eight hun- 
dred and twenty-five bearing the word, no; one hundred 
twelve thousand nine hundred and seventy-five invalid ballots ; 

We have sanctioned and promulgated as law. of the state 
the se.natus-cor:sultum adopted by the Senate, April 20, 1870, 
and of tlie following tenor : 

Senatus-Consultum Establishing the Constitution of the 
Empire. 

Title I. 

1. The constitution recognizes, confirms and guarantees 
the grand principles proclaimed in 1789 and which are the 
basis of the public law of the French. 

Title 11. Of the Imperial Dig^nity and of the Regency. 

2. The im.perial dignity, re-established in the person of 
Napoleon III by the plebiscite of November 21 and 22, 1852, 
is hereditary in the direct and legitimate lineage of Louis- 
Napoleon Bonaparte, from male to male, by order of primo- 
geniture, and to the perpetual exclusion of women and their 
descendants. 

3. Napoleon III, if he has no male child, can adopt the 
children and the legitimate descendants in the masculine line 
of the brothers of the Emperor Napoleon I. 

The forms of adoption are regulated by a law. 

If, after the adoption^ male children come to Napoleon III, 
his adopted sons can be called to succeed him only after his 
legitimate descendants. 

Adoption is forbidden to the successors of Napoleon III 
and their descendant3. 

4. In default of legitimate heirs, direct or adopted. Prince 
Napoleon (joseph-Charles-Paul) and his direct and legitimate 
descendants, from male to male, by order of primogeniture 
and to the perpetual exclusion of women and their descend- 
ants, are called to the throne. 



S82 Evolution of the Liberal Empire 

5. In default of legitimate or adopted heirs of Napoleon 
III and his successors in the collateral line who obtain their 
rights from the preceding article, the people select the Emper- 
or and regulate, within his family, the order of inheritance 
from male to male, to the perpetual exclusion of women and 
their descendants. 

The project of plebiscite is successively deliberated upon 
by the Senate and the Legislative Body, upon the proposal 
of the ministers, formed into council of government. 

Until the mom^ent at which the election of the new Em- 
peror is completed, the aftairs of the state are governed by 
the ministers in office, who form themselves into a council of 
government and determine by the majority of votes. 

6. The members of the family of Napoleon III called 
eventually to the inheritance and their descendants of both 
sexes form part of the imperial family. 

I'hey cannot marry without the authorisation of the Em- 
peror. Their marriage without authorisation entails depriva- 
tion of all right to the inheritance, both for the one who has 
contracted it and his descendants. 

Nevertheless, if there are nO' children from this marriage, 
in case of dissolution caused by decease, the prince who has 
contracted it recovers his rights to the inheritance. 

I'he Emperor detei'mines the titles and the status of the 
other members of his family. 

He has full authority over them; he regulates their duties 
and their rights by statutes which have the force of law. 

7. The regency of the Empire is regulated by the senatus- 
consultum of July 17, 1856. 

8. The members of the imperial family called eventually 
to the inheritance take the title of French princes. 

The eldest son of the Emperor bears the title of Prince 
Imperial. 

9. The French princes are members of the Senate and of 
the Council of State when they have reached the age of eight- 
een completed years. They can sit therein only with the ap- 
proval of the Emperor. 

Title III. Forms of the Government of the Emperor. 

10. The Emperor governs with the assistance of the min- 



Evolution of the Liberal Empire 583 

isterj, the Senate, the Legislative Body and the Council of 
State. 

11. I'he legislative power is exercised collectively by the 
Emperor, the Senate, and the Legislative Body. 

12. The introduction of the lav/s belongs to the Emperor, 
the Senate and the Legislative Body. 

The projects of law^ emanating from the initiative of the 
Emperor can at his option be transmitted to either the Senate 
or the Legislative Body. 

Nevertheless, every tax-law must be first voted by the 
Legislative Body. 

Title IV. Of the Emperor. 

13. The Emperor is responsible to the French people, to 
whom he has always the right to make appeal. 

14. The Emperor is the head of the state. He commands 
the land and naval forces, declares war, makes treaties of 
peace, alliance and' commerce, appoints to all offices, makes 
the rules and decrees necessary for the execution of .the laws. 

15. Justice is rendered in his name. 

The irremovability of the judges is maintained. 

16. The Emperor has the right to pardon and to grant 
amnesties. 

17. He sanctions and promulgates the laws. 

18. Future modifications by international treaties in the 
schedules of the custom-duties and the postoffice shall be bind- 
ing only in virtue of a law. 

19. The Emperor appoints and removes the ministers. 
The ministers deliberate in council under the presidency of 

the Emperor. 

They are responsible. 

20. The ministers can be members of the Senate or of 
the Legislative Body. 

They have entrance into both assemblies and must be 
heard whenever they request it. 

21. The ministers, the members of the Senate, of the Leg- 
islative Body and of the Council of State, the officers of the 
army and navy, the judges and the public functionaries take 
the following oath : 

"/ swear obedience to the constitution and fidelity to the 
Emperor." 



584 Evolution of the Liberal Empire 

22. The senatus-consulta of December 12, 1852, and of 
April 23, 1856, upon the endowment of the crown and the 
civil list, remain in force. 

However, there shall be a law enacted in the case provided 
for by articles 8, 11 and 16 of the senatus-consultum' of De- 
cember 12, 1852. 

For the future, the endowment of the crown and the civil 
list shall be fixed, for the entire duration of the reign, by the 
legislature which meets after the accession of the Emperor. 

Title V. Of the Senate. 

23. The Senate is composed: 

1st. Of the cardinals, marshals and admirals. 
2d. Of the citizens whom the Emperor raises to the dig- 
nity of senator. 

24. 7'he decrees of appointment of the senators are indi- 
vidual. They recount the services and indicate the titles upon 
which the appointment is based. 

No other condition can be imposed upon the choice of the 
Emperor. 

25. Senators are irremovable and for life. 

26. The number of the senators can be brought to two- 
thirds of that of the members of the Legislative Body, includ- 
ing therein the senators ex-officio. 

The Emperor cannot appoint more than twenty senators 
per annum. 

27. The president and vice-president of the Senate are ap- 
pointed by the Emperor and chosen from among the senators. 

They are appointed for one year. 

28. The Emperor convokes and prorogues the Senate. 
He pronounces the closure of the sessions. 

2g. The sittings of the Senate are public. 

Nevertheless, the Senate can form itself into secret com- 
mittee in the case and according to the conditions determined 
by its rule. 

30. The Senate discusses and votes the projects of law. 

Title VI. Of the Legislative Body. 

31 The deputies are elected by universal suffrage, with- 
out scrutin de liste. 



Evolution of the Liberal Empire 585 

32. They are elected for a term which cannot be less than 
six years. 

2S- The Legislative Body discusses and votes the projects 
of law. 

34. The Legislative Body elects, at the opening of each 
session, the members who compose its bureau. 

35. The Emperor convokes, adjourns, prorogues and dis- 
solves the Legislative Body. 

In case of dissolution, the Emperor shall convoke a new 
one within a period of six months. 

The Emperor pronounces the closure of the Legislative 
Body. 

36. The sittings of the Legislative Body are public. 
Nevertheless, the Legislative Body can form itself into 

secret committee in the cases and according tO' the conditions 
determined by its rule. 

Title VII. 0£ the Council of State. 

37. The Council of State is charged, under the direction 
of the Emperor, to draw up the projects of law and the rules 
of public administration and to settle controversies which 
arise in matters of administration. 

38. The council carries on, in the name of the govern- 
ment, the discussion of the projects of law before the Senate 
and the Legislative Body. 

39. The councillors of state are appointed by the Emperor 
and are removable by him. 

40. The ministers have rank, sitting and deliberative voice 
in the Council of State. 

Title VIII. General Provisions. 

41. The right of petition is exercised before the Senate 
and the Legislative Body. 

42. Articles 19, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 of the con- 
stitution of January 14, 1852; article 2 of the senatus-consul- 
tum of December 25, 1852; articles 5 and 8 of the senatus- 
consultum of September 8, 1869; and all provisions contrary 
to the .present constitution are abrogated. 

43. The provisions of the constitution of January 14, 1852, 
and those of the senatus-consulta promulgated since that date 



S'86 Evolution of the Liberal Empire 

which are not included ir. the present constitution and are not 
abrogated by the preceding article have the force of law. 

44. The constitution can be modified only by the people, 
upon the proposal of the Emperor. 

45. The changes and the additions effected in the plebiscite 
of December 20 and 21, 1851, by the present constitution shall 
be su])mitted to the approval of the people in the forms deter- 
mined bj^ the decrees of December 2 and 4, 1851, and Novem- 
ber 7, 1852. 

However, the balloting shall continue but a single day. 



118. The Persigny Circular. 



May 8, 1863. Moniteur, M.iy 9, 1863. 

I'olitical life in France, almost extinct under tlae autocratic 
empire (See Seignobos, ilurojte Since 181J,, 173-176), revived rap- 
idly undei- the inllnence of the earlier measures of ilie evolution in- 
to "tlie liberal empire. (f?ee Nos. 117 A, B and C) The election 
of 1863, the first under the more liberal regime, was marked by a 
lively struggle between the imperial government and its political 
opponents, though the latter were much handicapped by the still 
surviving features of the despotic system. This letter, sent to 
the prefects by the minister of the interior, Persigny, shows some- 
thing of the methods by which the imperial government influenced 
this as well as the preceding elections and gives in a concise 
form a uumber of the principal arguments employed in the de- 
fence of the imperial regime. 

Refeeences. Andrews, Modern Europe, II, 171-172 ; La Gorce, 
Second empire, IV, 220-222. 

Paris, May 8, 1863. 

Mr. Prefect. 

The elections which are being prepared for will be for 
France a new opportunity to strengthen before Europe the in- 
stitutions which it has given itself. 

Under these circumstances I scarcely need to remind you 
of the principles which ought to serve you for guidance. You 
will not forget that the Empire is the expression of the needs, 
feelings, and interests of the masses, and that, before rallying 
to it all the living forces of the nation, it was in the cottage 
of the people that it passed its infancy. 

Strong in his providential origin, the elect of the people 
has realized all the hopes of France, which he found in anar- 
chy, misery and abasement, into which the regime of the rhet- 



The Persigny Circular 587 

oricians had thrown it, and a few years have sufficed for him 
to raise it to the highest degree of wealth and grandeur. 

We know how in this country distracted by sO' many rev- 
olutions, political, social and religious order has been restored, 
and the security of persons and property established as it never 
had been ; how, in ten years, wealth in personal property has 
been doubled ?.nd wealth in lands augmented by 7 to 8 mil- 
liards, and the public i*evenue increased by 300 millions ; how 
the territory has been ploughed over with macademised roads, 
highways end cross roads, and enriched with innumerable pub- 
lic worlis; how, finally, the glorious triumphs of our armies 
and the high influence yielded to our policy abroad have come 
to crown a development of prosperity until now without ex- 
ample in the world. 

History will tell by what prodigies of wisdom, courage 
and skill, the elect oi the people has accomplished all these 
things ; but it will reveal also the secret of his astonishing 
fortune, I mean to say the absolute confidence, the touching 
fidelity with which, in peace or in war, in bad as well 
as in good circumstances, the French people have not ceased 
to support, surround and defend him. 

It is to this confidence that the Emperor again makes ap- 
peal. He asks from the country a legislature which . . . 
will be as devoted as the two p'receding and will have no other 
preoccupation than the future of the Empire. 

Mr. Prefect, if in France, as in England, parties were 
divided only upon the conduct of affairs, but were all equally 
attached to our fundamental institutions, the government could 
confine i^self in the elections to attendance upon the conflict 
of opinions. But in a country such as ours, which, after so 
many convulsions, has been seriously constituted only for ten 
years past, that regular play of parties, which with our neigh- 
bors so happily makes the public liberties fruitful, would at 
present result only in prolonging revolution and in compro- 
m.ising liberty; for with us there are parties^ which are still 
only factions. Formed out of the debris of overturned gov- 
ernments, and although enfeebled each day by time, which 
alone can cause them to disappear, they seek to penetrate to 
the heart of our institutions only in order to vitiate the prin- 
ciples upon which these rest, and they invoke liberty only in 
order to turn it against the state. 



588 The Persigny Circular 

In the presence of a coalition of animosities, rancors and 
ill-iiumors opposed to the great things of the Empire, your 
duty, Mr. Periect, is quite naturallj' traced. Filled with the 
liberal a,nd democratic spirit of our institutions, which the 
Emperor applies himself every day to develop, you will ad- 
dress yourself only to the reason and heart of the people. 
Allow everybody to produce candidatures freely, to publish 
and distribute professions of faith and ballots, according to 
the forms prescribed by our laws. Look after the mainte- 
nance of order and the regularity of the electoral operations. 
It is for everybody a right and for you a duty to combat ener- 
getically all disloyal maneuvers, intrigue, surprise and fraud, 
r.nd, lastly, to assure the liberty and sincerity of the ballot and 
the honesty of the election. 

The suffrage is free. But, in order that the good faith of 
the people may not be deceived by skillful tongues, or by 
equivocal professions of faith, designate openly, as in preced- 
ing elections, the candidates who impart the most confidence 
to the government. Let the people know who' are friends or 
the more or less disguised adversaries of the Empire, and let 
them pronounce in entire liberty, but in perfect knowledge' of 
the case. 

We are no longer in the time when elections were in the 
hands of a small number of privileged persons who disposed 
of the destinies of the country. Thanks to the Emperor, who 
has known how to resist both former and recent attempts of 
all the parties to restrict universal suffrage, and who has de- 
termined to maintain the right of every Frenchman to be an 
elector, France to-day, in possession of the most extensive 
suffrage that exists in Europe, counts lO million electors, 
voting by secret ballot, each having to render account for his 
vote only to God and to his own conscience : it is the entire 
nation which, mistress of itself, cannot be dominated, forced 
nor corrupted by anybody. 

Receive, Mr. Prefect, the assurance of my very distin- 
guished consideration. 

The Minister of the Interior. 

F. DE Persigny. 



Law upon Public Meetings 589 

119. Law upon Public Meetings. 

June 6, 1868. Duvergier, Lois, LXVIII, 186-208. 

From 1852 to 1868 the formation of associations and tlie hold- 
ing of public meetings were regulated by the government of the 
Second Empire in a manner analogous to the control exercised 
over the press. (See No. 113). No meetings attended by more than 
twenty-one persons could be held, unless express authorisation 
was previously secured from the police. The system outlined in 
this law was one of the "liberal concessions" which accompanied 
the constitutional changes of the . evolution from the autocratic 
to the liberal empire. (See No. 117). 

Refeeencbs. Seignobos, Europe Since ISU, 179 ; I.iavisse and 
Rambaud, Histoire generale, XI, 185 ; Rambaud, Civilisation con- 
temporaine, 533-534 ; La Gorce, Second empire, V, 363-369 ; Jaurfes, 
Histoire sociaUste, X, 322-323. 

Title I. Of Non-Political Public Meetings. 

1. Public meetings can take place without previous author- 
isation, under the conditions prescribed in the following arti- 
cles. 

Nevertheless, public meetings whose object is to treat of 
political or religious matters continue to be subject to that 
authorisation. 

2. Each meeting must be preceded by a declaration signed 
by seven persons who are domiciled in the canton in which 
it is to take place and who are. in the enjoyment of their civil 
and political rights. 

This deck ration sets forth the names, status and domicile 
of the declarants, the place, day and hour of sitting, as well 
as the definite and particular purpose of the meeting. 

At Paris it is sent to the prefect of police ; in the depart- 
ments, to the prefect or sub-prefect. 

A receipt for it, which must be presented at every requisi- 
tion of the agents -of authority, is immediately given. 

The meeting cannot take place until three full days after 
the delivery of the receipt. 

3. A meeting can be held only in a closed and covered 
place. It cannot be prolonged beyond the hour fixed by the 
competent authority for the closing of public places. 

4. Each meeting must have a bureau composed of a pres- 
ident and of at least two assistants who are charged to main- 
tain order in the assembly and to prevent any infraction of 
the laws. 



590 Law upon Public Meetings 

The members of the bureau must not tolerate the discus- 
sion of any question foreign to the purpose of the meeting. 

5. A functionary of the judicial or administrative corps, 
delegated by the administration, shall be present at the meet- 
ing. 

He must be invested with his symbols and takes a place 
at his choice. 

6. The functionary who is present at the meeting has the 
right to pronounce its dissolution: ist, if the bureau, although 
cautioned, allows questions foreign to the purpose of the meet- 
ing to be brought under discussion; 2d, if the meeting be- 
comes turbulent. 

The persons assembled are required to separate at the first 
requisition. 

The delegate draws up a record of the facts and trans- 
mits it to the competent authority. 

Title II. Of Public Electoral Meetings. 

8. Electoral meetings can be held from the promulgation 
of the decree of convocation of a college for the election of 
a deputy to the Legislative Body rmtil the fifth day before 
that fixed for the opening of the ballot. 

Only the electors of the electoral circumscription and the 
candidates who have fulfilled the frmalities prescribed by 
article i of the senatus-consultum of February 17, 1858, can 
be present at this meeting. 

In order to be admitted they must make known their 
names, status and domicile. 

The meeting cannot take place until one full day after 
the delivery of the receipt which must immediately follow the 
declaration. 

All the other requirements of articles 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 are 
applicable to electoral meetings. 

13. The prefect of police at Paris and the prefects in the 
departments can adjourn any meeting which appears to them 
of a nature to disturb order or to compromise the public 
security. 

The interdiction of a meeting can be pronounced only by 
the minister of the interior. 



The Benedetti Treaty 591 

120. The Proposed Benedetti Treaty. 

August 20, 1866, Archives diplomatiques . 1871-1872, I. 266-267, 
281-282, 360 (facsimile). Translation, based upon that of Mes- 
sages and Documents, Department of State, 1870-71, 199. 

Tliis document may be res:arded as a type of numerous pro- 
posals made to Prussia by Napoleon III for the purpose of se- 
curing to France some territorial conapensation as reward for its 
neutrality during the German wars, 1864-1866. Quite different 
accounts of this transaction are given by Bismarck and Benedetti, 
the French minister at Benin. The original is in the handwrit- 
ing of Benedftti. but he declares that he wrote at the dictation of 
Bismarck. The document was made public by Bismarck at the 
beginning of the Franco-Prussian war. 

Ri-:fet:ences. Fyffe, Modern Europe. Ill, 381-385 (Popular ed., 
959-961): Andrews, Modern Europe, II, 258-254; Headlam, Bis- 
marck, 262-283 ; La Gorce, Second empire, V, 62-69. 

His Majesty the King of Prussia and his Majesty the 
Emperor of the French, deeming it useful to draw closer 
the bonds of friendship which unite them, and to consolidate 
the relations of good .neighborhood happily existing between 
the two cotmtries, and being convinced, on the other hand, 
that to attain 'this result, which is calculated besides to assure 
the maintenance of the general peace, it behooves them to 
come to an understanding on questions which concern their 
future relations, have resolved to conclude a treaty tO' this 
effect and named in consequence as their plenipotentiaries, 
that is to say; 

His Majesty, &c., &c. 

His- Majesty, &c., &c. 

Who, having exchanged their full powers, found to be in 
g-ood and proper form, have agreed upon the following arti- 
cles : 

Article I. His Majesty the Emperor of the French admits 
and recognizes the acquisitions which Prussia has made as 
the result of the last war which she sustained against Austria 
and her allies, [as also the arrangements adopted or to be 
adopted for constituting a confederation in North Germany, 
engaging at the same time to render his support for the main- 
tenance of that ivork.'] 

Article H. His Majesty the King of Prussia promises to 
facilitate the acquisition of Luxemburg by France; for that 
effect his said Majesty will enter into negotiations with His 
Majesty the King of the Netherlands to induce him to cede 



592 The Ems Despatch 

to the Emperor of the French his sovereign rights over that 
<iuchy in return for . such compensation as shall be deemed 
sufficient or otherwise ; in order to facilitate this transaction, 
the Emperor of the French, on his side, agrees to assure 
accessorily the pecuniary charge which it may involve. 

Article III. His Majesty the Emperor of the French 
will not oppose a federal union of the confederation of the 
North with the southern states of Germany, with the ex- 
ception of Austria, which union may be based on a common 
parliament, the sovereignty of the said states being respected 
in just measure. 

Article IV. On his part his Majesty the King of Prussia, 
in case his Majesty the Emperor of the French should be 
obliged by circumstances to cause his troops to enter Bel- 
gium, or to conquer it, will grant the co-operation of his arms 
to France, and will sustain her with all his forces of land 
and sea against every power which, in that eventuality, should 
declare war upon her. 

Article V. To insure the complete execution of the above 
arrangements, his Majesty the King of Prussia and his Maj- 
esty the Emperor of the French contract, by the present 
treaty, an ofifensive and defensive alliance, which they solemn- 
ly engage to maintain; — Their Majesties engage, moreover, 
and specifically, to observe it in every case in which their 
respective states, of which they mutually guarantee the integ- 
rity, should be menaced by aggression, holding themselves 
bound, in such conjuncture, to make without delay, and not 
to decline on any pretext, the military arrangements which 
may be demanded by their common interest, conformably to 
the clauses and provisions above set forth. 

121. The Ems Despatch. 

July 13, 1870. Preussiche Jalirbucher, LXXXII, 46-47. 

This famous dispatch was an important factor in bringing on 
the Fi-anco-Piussian war. The original version was sent to Bis- 
marclc by order of King William. Tlie published version was ed- 
ited from the original by Bismarck and printed with striking 
head-lines in the semi-official North German Gazette. The two 
should be carefully compared and all differences noted, especially 
with reference to the question whether the effect actually pro- 
duced by the published version was different from that which 
would probably have resulted from the publication of the original 
dispatch. 



The Ems Despatch 



593 



Refeeencrs. SeigDobos, Europe Since ISlJf, 810 ; Andrews, 
Modern Europe, II, 2&.)-'270 : Rose, European Nations, I, 50-52 ; 
Bismarck, Reflections and Reminiscences, II, 93-103; Headlam, 
Bisinarch, 337-342 ; Von Sybel, The Founding of the German Em- 
pire, VII, 393-401 : Lavisse and Ramband, Histoire g6nerale, XI, 
776 ; La Gorce, Second empire, VI, 281-285. 



[Original.] 

Ems, July 13, 1870. 

His Majesty the King 
writes me: 

"Count Benedetti intercept- 
ed me upon the promenade, 
in order finally to demand of 
me in a very pressing man- 
ner, that I should authorise 
him to telegraph immediately 
that I pledged myself for all 
the future never again to give 
my consent, if the Hohen- 
zollerns should renew their 
candidacy. I refused, at 
length somewhat decidedly, 
since one neither can nor 
should take such an engage- 
ment a tout jamais. I of 
course told him that I had not 
yet received any word, and, 
since he was earlier informed 
about Paris and Madrid than 
I, he could easily see that 
my government was again out 
of the game." 

His Majesty has since re- 
ceived a message ■ from, the 
prince. As His Majesty said 
to Count Benedetti that he 
was expecting news from the 
prince. His Highness, with 
reference to the above-men- 
tioned demand, upon the sug- 
gestion of Count Eulenberg, 
and myself, has determined 



[Published.] 

"Ems, July 13, 1870. After 
the news of the renunciation 
of the Hereditary Prince of 
Hohenzollern had been offi- 
cially communicated to the 
French imperial government 
by the royal Spanish [govern- 
ment], the French ambassa- 
dor again presented a demand 
to His Majesty at Ems that 
he should be authorised to 
telegraph to Paris that His 
Majesty the King pledges 
himself for all the future 
never again to give his con- 
sent if the Hohenzollerns 
should resume their candida- 
cy. His Majesty ihe King 
thereupon refused to receive 
the French minister and had 
him told through the service- 
adjutant that His Majesty has 
nothing further to communi- 
cate to the French minister." 



594 The 4th of September 

not to receive Count Bene- 
detti again, but only to have 
him told through an adjutant : 
That His Majesty has now 
received from the prince con- 
firmation of the news which 
Benedetti already liad from 
Paris and has nothing further 
to say to the ambassador. 

His Majesty leaves with 
your excellency whether the 
new demand of Benedetti and 
its immediate rejection should 
not be communicated to our 
ministers and to the press. 
Signed, 

Abeken. 



122. Documents upon the 4th of September. 

When the French disaster at Sedan became known at ■ Paris 
the imperial government was promptly overthrown and a provi- 
sional government created. These documents throw light upon 
the spirit and the ideas which animated the new government. 
Careful attention to the phraseology of the documents will bring 
out some important features of the situation. 

Rf.fbkencbs. FyB'e, Modern Europe, III, 447-448 (Popular ed., 
1002-100.3): Seignobos, Europe Since 1811,, 187-180; Ooubertin, 
Evolution of France under the Third Repuhlic, 1-6 ; La Gorce, 
Second empire, VII, 370-433. 

A. Proclamation to the French People. September 4, 
1870. Duvergier, Lois, LXX, 319-320. 

Frenchmen ! 

The people have outstripped the chamber, which was hesi- 
tating. In order to save the endangered fatherland they 
have demanded the Republic. 

They have placed their representatives not in power, but 
in peril. 

The Republic vanquished invasion in 1792, the Republic 
is proclaimed. 



The 4th of September 595 

The revolution is made in the name of the law and of 
the public safety. 

Citizens, watch over the city which is ientrusted to you; 
tomorrow you, with the army, shall be the avengers of the 
fatherland ! 

B. Proclamation to the Inhabitants of Paris. September 
4, 1870. Duvergier, Lois, LXX, 320. 

Citizens of Paris ! 

The Republic is proclaimed. 

A government has been selected by acclamation. 

It is composed of the citizens : Emmanuel Arago, Cre- 
mieux, Jules Favre, Jules Ferry, Gambetta, Gamier-Pages, 
Glais-Bisoin, Pelletan, Picard, Rochefort, Jules Simon, rep- 
resentatives of Paris. 

General Troclni is entrusted with full military powers for 
the national defence. He is summoned tO' the presidency of 
the government. 

The government begs the citizens to be calm; the people 
will not forget that they are in the face of the enemy. 

The government is before all a government of national 
defence. 

C. Proclamation to the National Guard. September 4, 
1870. Dtivergier, Lois, LXX, 320. 

Those upon whom^ your patriotism has just imposed the iov- 
midable task of defending the country thank you from the 
bottom of the heart for your courageous devotion. The civic 
victory whereby liberty has been restored tO' France is due 
to your resolution. 

Thanks to you, that victory has not cost one drop of blood. 

The personal -power is no more. 

The entire ration resumes its rights and its arms. It 
stands ready to die for the defence of the soil. You have re- 
stored its soul, let despotism perish. 

You will maintain the execution of the laws, and, in rival- 
ry with our noble army, you will mount together the road of 
victory. 



596 Diplomatic Circulars 

D. Decree upon the Legislative Body and the Senate. 
September 4, 1870. Duvergier, Lois, LXX, 320. 

The Government, etc., decrees: 

The Legislative Body is dissolved. The Senate is abolished. 

E. Decree upon Political and Press Offenders. Septem- 
ber 4, 1870. Duvergier, Lois, LXX, 320. 

The Government, etc., decrees : 

Full and complete amnesty is granted tO' all condemned 
for political crimes and offences and for press offences from 
December 3, 1852 to September 3, 1870. All the condemned 
still in custody, whether the judgments have been rendered 
by the correctional tribunals, or by the assize . courts, or by 
courts martial, shall be immediately placed at liberty. 

123. Diplomatic Circulars upon the Franco- 
Prussian War. 

These diplomatic circulars, designed for communication to the 
neutral governments, show the ideas of the French and Prussian 
governments upon the proper basis for peace. Each government 
will be seen to have formulated a program and adduced an argu- 
ment in its support. These should be carefully noted and com- 
pared. 

References. Fyft'e, Slodern Europe, III, 448-449 (Popular ed., 
1003) ; Hanotaux. Contemporanj France, I, 14-1.6 ; Headlam, Bis- 
marck, 3.53-3.5.5 ; Sorel, Histoire •liptomatique de la guerre franco- 
allemande, I, 296-299, 332-337. 

A. Circular to French Ministers September 6, 1870. Jour- 
nal Officiel, September 7, 1870. Translation, Messages and 
Documents, State Department, 1870-71, 139-140. 

Sir, 

The events which have just taken place at Paris explain 
themselves so well by the inexorable logic of facts that it 
is useless to dwell at length upon their meaning and their 
scope. 

In yielding to an irresistible impulse, too long restrained, 
the people of Paris have obeyed a higher .necessity, that of 
their own safety. 

They have not been willing to perish with the criminal 
authority which v\?as leading France to its destruction. 

They have not pronounced the downfall of Napoleon III 
and of his dynasty; they have registered it in the name of 
right, justice, and the public safety. 



Diplomatic Circulars 597 

And this sentence was so -well ratified in advance by the 
consciences of all, that no "one among the noisiest defenders 
of the authority which fell has risen to support it. 

It has sunk of itself, under the weight of its faults, to the 
acclamations of a mighty people, without one drop of blood 
having been shed, without one person having been deprived 
of his liberty. 

And we have been able to see, a thing unheard of in his- 
tory, the citizens upon whom the cry of the people con- 
ferred the perilous task of fighting and conquering, not giving 
a moment's thought to the adversaries who yesterday threat- 
ened them with military executions. It is by refusing them 
the honor of any repression that their blindness and their 
impotence have been exhibited. 

Order has not been disturbed for a single moment ; our 
confidence in the wisdom and the patriotism' of the national 
guard and the entire population permits us to affirm that it 
will not be. 

Released from the shame and peril of a government recre- 
ant to all its duties, every one will understand that the first 
act of this national sovereignty, finally reconquering, is to 
command itself and to seek its strength in respect for the 
law. 

Moreover, time presses: the enemy is at our gates; we 
have only one thought, to drive them from our territory. 

But this obligation which we resolutely accept has not been 
imposed upon France by us; she would not be subject to it 
if our voice had been heard. 

We have energetically defended, even at the expense of 
our popularity, the policy of peace. We shall persevere therein 
with a still deeper conviction. 

Our heart breaks at the spectacle of these human massa- 
cres in which the flower of the two nations disappears while 
with a little good sense and a good deal of liberty they might 
have been saved from these frightful catastrophes. 

We have no words which can express our admiration for 
our heroic army, sacrificed by the incompetence of the com- 
mander-in-chief, and yet rendered greater by its defeats than 
by the most brilliant victories. 

For, despite the knowledge of the defeats which com- 
promised it, it solemnly offered itself up to certain death and 
redeemed the honor of France from the stains of its govern- 
ment. 



598 Diplomatic Circulars 

Honor to it ! The nation opens its arms to it ! The im- 
perial authority wished to separate them; misfortmies and 
duty unite them in a solemn embrace. Sealed by patriotism 
and liberty, that alliance makes us invincible. 

Ready for anything, we contemplate with calmness the 
situation which confronts us. 

That situation I will state in a few words; I will submit 
it to the judgment of my country and of Europe. 

We loudly condemned the war, and, protesting our re- 
spect for the rights of nations, we demanded that Germany be 
left mistress of her destinies. 

We desired that liberty should be at the same time our 
common bond and olu* common shield; we were convinced 
that these moral forces would assure forever the maintenance 
of peace. But, as sanction, we demanded a weapon for each 
citizen, a civic organization, and elected leaders; then we 
would have remained invulnerable upon our soil. 

The imperial government, which had long ago- separated 
its interests from those of the country, rejected this policy. 
We resume it. with the hope that instructed by experience, 
PYance will have the wisdom to practice it. 

On his side, the King of Prussia has declared that he 
was making war, not on France, but on the imperial dynasty. 

The dynasty lies prostrate. Free France rises. 

Does the King of Prussia desire to continue an impious 
struggle which will be at least as fatal to him as to us ? 

Docs he desire to give tO' the world of the nineteenth cen- 
tury this cruel spectacle of two nations, which destroy each 
other, and which, forgetful of humanity, reason, and science, 
pile up ruins and corpses? 

It is open to him; let him assume this responsibility be- 
fore the world and before history ! 

Tf it is a challenge, we accept it. 

We will not yield an inch of our territory, nor a stone of 
our fortresses. 

A disgraceful peace would mean a war of extermination 
shortly. 

We will treat only for a lasting peace. 

Here, our interest is that of all Europe, and we have rea- 
son to hope that, freed from all dynastic bias the question 
will then be regarded in the chanceries. 



Diplomatic Circulars 599 

But should we be alone, we shall not be feeble. 

We have a resolute army, well equipped forts, strong 
walls, but above all the breasts of three hundred thousand 
fightmg men determined to persevere to the last. 

When they go^ piously to place garlands at the foot of the 
statue in Strasburg, they not only obey a sentim-ent of en- 
thusiastic admiration, they take their heroic watch-word, they 
swear to be worthy of their brothers of Alsace and to die 
as they did. 

After the forts, the ramparts ; after the ramparts, the barri- 
cades. Paris can hold out three months and conquer; if it 
should succumb, France, rising at its call, would avenge it; 
it would continue the struggle, and the aggressor would perish. 

This, sir, is what Europe ought to know. We have not 
accepted power with any other object. We would not re- 
tain it a minute if we did not find the people of Paris and 
all France determined to share our resolutions. 

I sum them up in a word before God who hears us, and 
before posterity which will judge us: we only desire peace. 
But if a destructive war which we have denounced should be 
continued against us, we will do our duty to the end, and 
I have firm confidence that our cause, which is that of right 
and of justice, will finally triumph. 

It is in this sense that I desire you to explain the situa- 
tion to the minister of the court to which you are accredited 
and in whose hands you will leave a copy of this document. 

Accept, sir, the expression of my high consideration. 

September 6, 1870. 

Signed, The minister of foreign affairs, 

Jules Favre. 

B. Circular to Prussian Ministers. September 13, 1870. 
Translation, Messages and Documents, State Department, 
1870- 71, 211-212. 

Rheims, September 13, 1870. 
In consequence of the erroneous ideas concerning our re- 
lations with France, which reach us even from friendly quar- 
ters, I am induced to express myself in the following lines 
in relation to the views of his Majesty the king, which are 
shared by the allied German governments. 



6oo Diplomatic Circulars 

We thought we saw in the plebiscitum and the succeed- 
ing apparently satisfactory condition of things in France, a 
guarantee of peace, and the expression of a friendly feeling 
on the part of the French nation. Events have taught us 
the contrary; at least they have shown us how easily this 
voice, among the French nation, is changed to- its opposite. 
The almost unanimous majority of the representatives of 
the people, of the senate, and of the organs of public opinion 
among the press, demanded a war of conquest against us so 
loudly and emphatically that the isolated friends of peace 
were discouraged, and the Emperor Napoleon probably told 
his Majesty no untruth when he declared that the state of 
public opinion forced him to undertake the war. 

In the face of this fact we must not seek our guarantees 
in French feelings. We must not shut our eyes to the fact 
that, in consequence of this war, we must be prepared for 
a speedy attack from France again, and not for a permanent 
peace, and that quite independently of any conditions which 
we may impose upon France. The French nation will never 
forgive us for the defeat in itself, nor for our victorious re- 
pulse of its wanton attack. If we should now withdraw from 
France, without any acquisition of territory, without any 
contribution, without any advantages save the glory won by 
our arms, the same hatred, the same desire for revenge on 
account of wounded pride and ambition, would remain among 
the French nation, and it would only await the day when 
it might hope successfully to indulge these feelings. It was 
not a doubt of the justice of our cause, nor was it an appre- 
hension that we might not be strong enough, that restrained 
us in the year 1867 from the war which was then offered us, 
but the fear of exciting those passions by our victories and 
of inaugurating an era of mutual animosity and constantly 
renewed wars, while we hoped, by a longer continuance and 
attentive care of the peaceful relations of both nations, to 
gain a firm foundation for an era of peace and welfare. Now, 
after having been forced into the war which we desired to 
avoid, we must seek to obtain better guarantees for our de- 
fence against the next attack of the French than those of 
their good feeling. 

The guarantees which have been sought since the year 
1815 against the same French desires and for the peace of 



Diplomatic Circulars 60 1 

Europe in the Holy Alliance, and other arrangements made in 
the interest of Europe, have, in the course of time, lost their 
efficacy and significance ; so that Germany has finally been 
obliged to defend herself against France, depending solely up- 
on her own strength and her own resources. Such an effort 
as we are now making imposes such sacrifices upon the Ger- 
man nation that we are forced to seek material guarantees 
and the security of Germany against the future attacks of 
France, guarantees at the same time for the peace of Europe, 
which has nothing to fear fro-m Germany. 

These guarantees we have to demand, not from a tempo- 
rary government of France, but from the French nation, which 
has shown that it is ready to follow any government to war 
against us, as is indisputably manifested by the series of 
aggressive wars carried on for centuries by France against 
Germany. 

Our demands for peace can therefore only be designed 
to lay obstacles in the way of the next attack of France upon 
Germany, and especially the hitherto defenceless South 
German frontier, by removing this frontier, and with it the 
point of departure of French attacks, further back, and by 
seeking to bring the fortresses with which France threatens 
us, as defensive bulwarks, into the power of Germany. 

You will express yourself in this sense, if any questions 
are asked of you. 

Bismarck. 

C. Circular to Prussian Ministers. September 16, 1870. 
Translation, Messages and Doeiiments, State Department, 
1870- 71, 212-213. 

Meaux, September 16, 1870. 

You are aware of the contents of the document which M. 
Jules Favre has addressed to the representatives of France 
abroad, in the name of the present authorities in Paris, who 
style themselves the government of the national defence. 

It has, at the same time, come to my knowledge, that M. 
Thiers has undertaken a confidential mission to several for- 
eign courts, and I presume that it will be his task, on the 
one hand to inspire confidence in the desire for peace of the 
present Paris government, and on the other to seek the inter- 



6o2 Diplomatic Circulars 

veution of neutral povvers in favor of a peace designed to rob 
Germany of the fruits of her victory, and to prevent the 
establishment of any basis of peace which might lay obstacles 
in the way of the next French attack upon Germany. 

We cannot believe in the earnest intention of the present 
Paris government to put an end to the war, so long as it 
continues to excite the passions of the people by its language 
and its acts, to increase the hatred and the bitter feeling of 
the population, already excited by the sufferings caused by 
the war, and to condemn in advance as inadmissible for 
France, every basis of peace which can be accepted by Ger- 
many. It thereby renders peace impossible, for which it 
should prepare the people by mild language, duly considering 
the serious nature of the situation, if it would lead us to be- 
lieve that it aims at lionest negotiations for peace with us. 
It could only be seriously supposed that we would now con- 
clude an armistice without every security for our conditions 
of peace, if we were thought to lack military and political sa- 
gacity, and to be indiffierent to the interests of Germany. 

Another thing which prevents the French from clearly com- 
prehending the necessity of peace with Germany, is the hope, 
which is encouraged by the present authorities, of a diplomatic 
or material intervention of neutral powers in favor of France. 
If the French nation becomes convinced, that, as it alone 
voluntarily inaugurated the war, and as Germany has been 
obliged to carry on the contest alone, it will be compelled to 
settle the account with Germany alone, it will soon put an 
end to its now certamly useless resistance. It is cruelty on 
the part of neutral nations towards France if they permit 
the Paris government to encourage unrealizable hopes of in- 
tervention among the people and thereby to prolong the 
struggle. 

We are far from any desire to interfere in the internal 
affairs of France. It is a matter of indifference to us what 
sort of a government the French [people] may choose for 
itself. The government of the Emperor Napoleon is the only 
one which has been formally recognized by us. Our terms' 
of peace, with whatever government, authorised for the pur- 
pose, we may have to negotiate them, are entirely independent 
of the question, how and by whom the French nation is gov- 
erned ; they are dictated to us by the nature of the case, and 



Diplomatic Circulars 603 

by the law of self-defence against a turbulent and quarrel- 
some people oil our frontier. The unanimous voice of the 
German governments and of the German people demands that 
Germany be protected by better boundaries than heretofore 
against the threats and outrages which have been committed 
against us for centuries by all French governments. As long 
as France remains in possession of Strasburg and Metz her 
offensive is strateg'ically stronger than our defence, through- 
out the entire south and that portion of the north of Ger- 
many which lies on the kft bank of the Rhine. Strasburg 
is, in the possession of France, a constantly open sally-port 
against South Germany. In the possession of Germany, on 
the other hand, Strasburg and Metz acquire a defensive char- 
acter. In more than twenty wars we have never been the 
aggressor against France, and we desire nothing from that 
country but our own safety, which has been so often jeop- 
ardized by it. France, on the contrary, will regard any peace 
which may now be concluded simply as a suspension of hos- 
tilities, and will again assail us, in order to be avenged for 
her present defeat, with just as little reason as she has done 
this year, as soon as she feels strong enough to do so, either 
through her own strength or through foreign alliances. 

In rendering it difficult for France (which has been the 
originator of every disturbance of the peace of Europe hith- 
erto) to act on the offensive, we are acting, at the same time, 
in the interest of Europe, which is that of peace. No dis- 
turbance of the peace of Europe is to be feared from Ger- 
many. Since the war has been .forced upon us, which we have 
shunned for four years with the utmost care and at a sac- 
rifice of our national feeling, which has been incessantly hec- 
tored by France, we will demand security in future as the 
price of the gigantic efforts which we have been obliged to 
make in our defence. No one will be able to reproach us 
for want of moderation if we adhere to this just and reason- 
able demand. 

I desire you carefully to take cognizance of these ideas 
and present them for consideration in your interviews. 

Bismarck. 



6o4 Executive Power Decrees 

124. Decrees and Laws upon the Executive 
Power, 1871-1873. 



These documents exhibit in large measure the nature of the 
government of France during the presidency of Thiers. By com- 
biniug vvliat is enacted for some institutions and what is implied 
or declared with reference to others with what is carried over 
from the preceding decree, each of the documents may be regarded 
as a sort of provisional constitution of France. They should be 
examined in that light. 

Refkrexces. Seignobos, Europe Since 18H, 3 94-197 ; Bodley, 
France., I. 271-276 ; Ilanotaiix, Contemporary France, I, 66-67, 265- 
270, 5S4-.5N8 : Lavisse and Kambaud, Uistoire geiierale, XII, 2, 8, 
12 ; Ilambaud, Civilisation conteniporaine, 523-524. 

A. Decree Appointing Thiers. February 17, 1871. Du- 
vergier, Lois, LXXI, 54-55. 

The National Assembly, depository of the sovereign 
authority, 

Considering that it is necessary, while awaiting what may 
be enacted as to the institutions of France, to provide imme- 
diately for the necessities of the government and for the con- 
duct of the negotiations, decrees : 

M. Thiers is appointed head of the executive power of 
Ih.e French Republic; he shall exercise his functions, under 
the authority of the National Assembly, with the assistance 
of the ministers whom he shall have chosen and over whom 
he shall preside. 



B. The Rivet Law. August 31, 1871. Duvergier, Lois^ 
LXXI, 210-212. 

The National Assembly, 

Considering that it has the right to use the constituent 
power, an essential attribute of the sovereignty with which 
it is invested, and that the imperative duties, which at the 
first it was bound to impose upon itself and' which are still 
far from being completed, have alone prevented until now 
the use of this power; 

Considering that, until the establishment of the definitive 
institutions of the country, it is essential for the needs of la- 
bor, the interests of commerce, and the development of in- 



Executive Power Decrees 605 

dustry, that our provisional institutions should take in the 
eyes of all, if not that stability which is the work of time, at 
least such that they may assure the harmony of feeling and 
the appeasement of parties; 

Considering that a new title, a more precise appellation, 
without in any degree altering the basis of things, may have 
the effect of putting better in evidence the intention of the 
assembly to continue freely the loyal experiment begun at 
Bordeaux ; 

That the prolongation of the functions conferred upon the 
head of the executive power, limited henceforth to the dura- 
tion of the labors of the assembly, may free these functions 
from what they may seem to have of instability and precari- 
ousness, without the sovereign rights of the assembly suffer- 
ing the least injury, since in any case the final determination 
belongs to the assembly; and that an ensemble of new guar- 
antees is about to assure the maintenance of these parlia- 
mentary privileges, at once the safeguard and the honor of 
the country ; 

Taking into consideration, moreover, the distinguished serv- 
ices rendered to the country by M. Thiers during the past • 
six months and the guarantees which the continuance of the 
power that he holds from the assembly presents ; 

Decrees : 

1. The head of the executive power shall take the title 
of President of the French Republic and shall continue to ex- 
ercise, under the authority of tlie National Assembly, as long 
as it shall not have terminated its labors, the functions which 
were delegated to him by the decree of February 17, 1871. 

2. The President of the Republic promulgates the laws 
as soon as they are transmitted to him by the president of 
the National Assembly. 

He secures and supervises the execution of the laws. 

He resides at the place where the National Assembly sits. 

He is heard by the National Assembly whenever he be- 
lieves it necessary and after he has informied the president of 
the National Assembly of his wish. 

He appoints and dismisses the ministers. The council of 
ministers and the ministers are responsible to the assembly. 

Each of the acts of the President of the Republic must 
be countersigned by a minister. 



6o6 Executive Power Decrees 

3. The President of the Republic is responsible to the 
assembly. 

C. Law upon the Presidency. March 13, 1873. Duvergier, 
Lois, LXXIII, 51-63. 

The National Assembly, 

Reserving in its entirety the constituent power which be- 
longs to it, but wishing to bring about improvements in the 
distribution of the public powers, decrees : 

1. The law of August 31, 1871, is modified as follows: 
The President of the Republic communicates with the as- 
sembly by messages which, with the exception of those with 
which the sessions are opened, are read at the tribune by a 
minister. 

Nevertheless, he shall be heard by the assembly in the 
■discussion of the laws, when he shall deem it necessary, and 
after he has informed it of his wish by a message. 

The discussion upon the occasion at which the President of 
the Republic expresses a wish to take the word is suspended 
after the receipt of the message, and the President shall be 
heard the next day, unless a special vote decides that he shall 
be heard the same day. The sitting is terminated after he 
has been heard, and the discussion is resumed only at a sub- 
sequent sitting. The discussion occurs outside of the pres- 
ence of the President of the Republic. 

2. The President of the Republic promulgates the laws 
declared urgent within three days, and the non-urgent laws 
within the month following the vote of the assembly. 

Within the space of three days, when a law that has not 
been submitted to three readings is in question, the President 
of the Republic shall have the right to demand, by a message 
with a statement of reasons, a new deliberation. 

For the laws submitted to the formality of the three read- 
ings, the President of the Republic shall have the right, after 
the second, to demand that the placing of it as the order 
of the day for the third deliberation be fixed only after the 
space of two months. 

3. The provisions of the preceding article shall not apply 
to the acts in which the National Assembly shall exercise the 



Treaty of Versailles 607 

constituent power which is reserved in the pTeamble of the 
present law. 

4. Interpellations can be addressed only to the ministers, 
and not to the President of the Republic. 

When interpellations addressed to the ministers or pe- 
titions sent to the assembly relate to foreign affairs, the Pres- 
ident of the Republic shall have the right to be heard. 

When these interpellations or these petitions have rela- 
tion to the internal policy, the ministers shall reply only for 
the acts which concern them. Nevertheless, if by a special 
resolution, communicated to the assembly before the opening 
of the discussion by the vice-president of the council of min- 
isters, the council should declare that the questions raised are 
bound up with the general policy of the government and thus 
involve the responsibility of the President of the Republic, 
the President shall have the right to be heard in the forms 
determined by the first article. 

After having heard the vice-president of the council, the 
assembly fixes the day for the discussion. 

5. The National Assembly shall not separate before hav- 
ing enacted : 

1st. Upon the organization and the method of transmission 
of the legislative and executive powers ; 

2d. Upon the creation and prerogatives of a second cham- 
ber, which is not to enter upon its functions until after the 
separation of the present assembly; 

3d. Upon the electoral law. 

The government shall submit to the assembly projects of 
law upon the above enumerated matters. 



125. Preliminary Treaty of Versailles. 

February 26. 1871. De Clercq. Traitcs. X. 430-435. Transla- 
tion, Hertsiet, Map of Europe hy Treaty, 1912-1918. 

As the stipulations of this treaty were reproduced without any 
very considerable change in the definitive treaty of Frankfort, 
this document shows substantially the terms of peace at the end 
of the Franco-Prussian war. 

References. FvlTe, Modern Europe, III, 464-465 (Popular ed., 
1013-1014) : Seignobos, Europe Since 1814, 818 ; Hanotaux, Con- 
temporary France. I, 119-131 : Sorel, Histoire diplomatique de la 
(juerrc franco-allemande, II, 231-251. 



6o8 Declaration of the Commune 

Between the Chancellor of the Germanic Empire, Count 
Otto Bismarck-Schonhausen, . . . representing the 
Germanic Empire, on the one part; and on the other part, 
the Chief of the Executive Power of the French Republic, 
Monsieur Thiers, and the minister for foreign affairs, Mon- 
sieur Jules Favre, representing France; . . . the following 
has been agreed upon to serve as a preliminary basis to the 
definlLive peace to be concluded hereafter. 

1. . . . [Contains the cession of territory made by 
France to Germany. This cession, as slightly modified by 
the definitive treaty of Frankfort, is shown upon maps in 
Hertslet, Map of Europe by Treaty, 1962-1963, and Putzger, 
Historischer ScJiul- Atlas, 29.] 

2. France shall pay to His Majesty the Emperor of Ger- 
many the sum of five milliard francs. 

The payment of at least one milliard francs shall be 
effected within the year 1871, and the whole of the remainder 
of the debt in the space of three years dating from the rati- 
fication of the present articles. 

3. . . . [Provides in detail for the gradual evacuation 
of French territory as the payments upon the indemnity are 
made.] 

4. The German troops shall abstain from levying contri- 
butions either in money or in kind in the occupied depart- 
ments. On the other hand, the maintenance of the German 
troops remaining in France shall be at the expense of the 
French government in the manner decided upon by an agree- 
ment with the German military administration. 



126. Declaration of the Paris Commune. 



April 19, 1871. Revue de France. Supplement. Actes du gouv- 
ernment revolutionnaire de Paris, XXXIX-XL. 

The ideas of the Pai-is Communards may be divided into two 
classes : (1) neg:ative. a common hatred of monai-chy and the 
bour.<!Pois remiblic. one of which they expected the National As- 
semb'y to establish: (2) positive, a great variety of political and 
social theoi-ies, represented by different groups of Communards. 
This document, which was the chief political act of the Commune, 
throws light upon both sets of ideas. For the' negative class, the 
intensity of feeling which the document shows should be noted. 
The x^ositive ideas should be compared with (1) those of the ex- 



Declaration of the Commune 609 

treme revolutionary parties of earlier crises, (2) those of the dif- 
ferent groups represented among the Communards, (3) the require- 
ments of the existing situation in France. 

Refekences. Seignobos, Europe Since ISH, 190-194 ; Andrews, 
Modern Europe, II, 345-340 ; .Dickinson, Revolution ami Reaction 
in Modern France, Ch. viii; Hanotaux, Contemporary France, I, 
166-169 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire generale, XII, 2-7 ; Jaur6s, 
Kistoire svcialiste, XI, 422-424. 

Declaration to the French People. 

In the painful and terrible conflict which once again im- 
poses upon Paris the liorrors of siege and bombardment, 
which causes French blood to flow, which causes our brothers, 
our wives, and our children to perish, sinking before shells 
and grape shot, it is necessary that public opinion should not 
be divided and that the .national conscience should not be 
troubled. 

It is necessary that Paris and the whole country should 
know what is the nature, the reason, and the aim of the revo- 
lution which is accomplished. It is necessary, in fine, that 
the responsibility for the sorrows, the sufferings and the mis- 
fortunes of which we are the victims should return upon those 
who, after having betrayed France and delivered Paris to 
the foreigner, are seeking with a blind and cruel obstinacy 
the ruin of the capital, in order to conceal in the disaster to 
the Republic and to liberty the double testimony to their 
treason and thejr crime. 

It is the duty of the commune to ascertain and assert the 
aspirations and the views of the population of Paris, to state 
precisely the character of the movement of March 18, mis- 
understood, unknown and calumniated by the politicians who 
sit at Versailles. 

Once again Paris labors and suffers for all France, for 
which by her conflicts and sacrifices she prepares intellectual, 
moral, administrative and economic regeneration, glory and 
prosperity. 

What does she ask for? 

The recognition and consolidation of the Republic, the 
only form of government compatible with the rights of the 
people and the regular and free development of society; 

The absolute autonomy of the commune extended to all 
the localities in France, and insuring to each the integrity of 



6io Declaration of the Commune 

its rights and to every Frenchman the full exercise of his 
faculties and aptitudes, as man, citizen and worker ; 

The autonomy of the commune shall have for its limits 
only the equal right of autonomy for all the other commtmes 
adhering to the contract, the association of which must insure 
French unity. 

The rights inherent in the commune are : 

The voting of the communal budget, receipts and expendi- 
tures ; the determination and partition of taxation ; the man- 
agement of the local services ; the organization of its magis- 
trature, the internal police and education; the administra- 
tion of the property belonging to the commune ; 

The choice by election or competition, with responsibility 
and the permanent right of control and removal, of the 
communal magistrates and functionaries of all sorts; 

The absolute guarantee of personal liberty, liberty of 
conscience and liberty of labor; 

The permanent participation of the citizens in communal 
affairs by the free expression of their ideas and the free 
defence of their interests ; guarantees to be given for these 
expressions by the commune, which alone is to be charged 
with the supervision and assuring of the free and just ex- 
ercise of the right of meeting and of publicity; 

The organization of urban defence and of the national 
guard, which elects its leaders and alone watches over the 
maintenance of order within the city. 

Paris wishes for -nothing more in the way of local guaran- 
tees, on condition, well understood, of finding in the grand 
central administration, the delegation of the federated com- 
munes, the realization and the practice of the same principles. 

But, in favor of its autonomy and profiting from its liberty 
of action, Paris reserves to herself to effect for herself, as 
she may think proper, the administrative and economic re- 
forms which her population demands, to create suitable insti- 
tutions to develop and promote education, production, ex- 
change and credit; to universalize power and property, ac- 
cording to the necessities of the moment and the opinion of 
those interested and the data furnished by experience. 

Our enemies deceive themselves or deceive the country 
when they accuse Paris of wishing to impose its will or its 
supremacy upon the remainder of the nation and of design- 



Declaration of the Commune 6ii 

ing a dictatorship which would be a veritable attack upon the 
independence and sovereignty of the other communes. 

They deceive themselves or deceive the country when 
they accuse Paris of seeking the destruction of French unity, 
established by the revolution amid the acclamations of our 
fathers flocking to the fete of the federation from all points 
of old France. 

Unity such as has been imposed on us up to this day by 
the Empire, the monarchy and parliamentarism is only des- 
potic, unintelligent, arbitrary and onerous centralization. 

Political unity such as Paris wishes is the voluntary asso- 
ciation of all the local initiatives, the free and spontaneous 
co-operation of all the individual energies in view of a com- 
mon purpose, the welfare, the liberty and the security of all. 

The communal revolution, begun by the popular initiative 
of March i8, inaugurates a new political era, experimental, 
positive, and scientific. 

It is the end of the old governmental and clerical world, 
of militarism, oflficialism, exploitation, stock jobbing, monop- 
olies, and privileges, to which the proletariat owes its servi- 
tude and the fatherland its misfortunes and its disasters. 

Let this beloved and splendid fatherland, imposed upon 
by falsehoods and calumnies, reassure itself then! 

The struggle brought on betv>^een Paris and Versailles is 
one of those which cannot be terminated by illusory com- 
promises; the issue of it cannot be doubtful. Victory, pur- 
sued with an indomitable energy by the national guard, will 
remain with the idea and the right. 

We appeal, therefore, to France ! 

Informed that Paris in arms possesses as much of calm- 
ness as of bravery; that it preserves order with as much en- 
ergy as enthusiasm ; that it sacrifices itself with as much rea- 
son as heroism; and that it has armed itself only out of de- 
votion to the liberty and glory of all; let. France cause this 
bloody conflict to cease ! 

It is for France to disarm Versailles by the solemn ex- 
pression of her irresistible will. 

> Summoned to profit from, our conquests, let her declare 
herself identified with our efforts; let her be our ally in this 
conflict which can end only by the triumph of the communal 
idea or the ruin of Paris ! 



6i2 Local Government Laws 

As for ourselves, citizens of Paris, we have the mission of 
accompHshing the modern revolution, the greatest and the 
most fruitful of all those which have illuminated history. 

It is our duty to struggle and to conquer ! 

Paris, April 19, 1871. The Commune of Paris. 

127. Laws for Reorganizing Local Government. 

These laws with No. 12S are the most important of the re- 
organization measures of the Thiers government. The system out- 
lined in them still exists with but little change. It should be 
rompared with that of the Second Empire. 

References. Seignobos, Europe Since ISllf, 195 ; Hanotaux, 
Contemporary Prance, I, 235-240 ; Rose, European Nations, I, 141- 
143 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire generale, XII, 9-10 ; Ram- 
baud, Civilisation contemporaine, 545-546 ; Jaurfes, Histoire social- 
iste, XII, 14-n. 

A. Communal Law. April 14, 1871. Duvergier, Lois, 
LXXI, 71-79. 

2. Within the shortest possible space of time after the 
promulgation of the present law, the government shall con- 
voke the electors in all the communes in order to proceed to 
the entire renewal of the municipal councils. 

3. The elections shall take place by scrutin de liste for 
every commune. Nevertheless the commune can be divided 
into sections, each cf which shall elect a number of councillors 
proportionate to the figure of the population. . . . 

4. All French citizens fully 21 years of age, in en- 
joyment of their civil and political rights, riot being in any 
position cf incapacity as provided by the law, and having for 
at least a year past their actual domicile in the commune, are 
electors. 

All the electors 25 years of age meeting the conditions 
provided in the preceding paragraph . . . are eligible to 
the municipal council of a commune. 

Moreover, there can be chosen to the municipal council of 
a commune, without the condition of domicile, a fourth of 
the members who shall compose it, on condition that the 
elected who are not domiciled pay in the said commune one 
of the four direct taxes. 



Local Government Laws 613 

7. In all of the communes, whatever may be their popula- 
tion, the balloting shall continue only one day. It shall be 
opened and closed on a Sunday. The counting shall be done 
immediately. 

8. The municipal councils selected shall remain in office 
until the promulgation of the organic law upon the munic- 
ipalities. Nevertheless, the duration of their functions cannot 
exceed three years. . . . 

9. The municipal council shall elect the mayor and the 
assistants from among its own members by secret ballot and 
majority. If after two ballots no candidate has obtained the 
majority the procedure shall be by ballotage between the two 
candidates who have obtained the most votes. . . . 

The mayors and the assistants thus elected shall be remov- 
able by decree. 

Dismissed mayors and assistants shall not be re-eligible 
for a year. The selection of the mayors and the assistants 
shall take place provisionally by decree of the government in 
the cities of more than 20,000 souls and in the head towns of 
the department and the district, whatever may be their pop- 
ulation. The mayors shall be taken from within, the munic- 
ipal council. 

10-17. [Provide a special municipal system for Paris.] 

19. The functions of mayor, assistants and municipal 
councillors are essentially gratuitous. 



B. Departmental Law. August 10, 1871. Duvergier, Lois, 
LXXI, 181-210. 

Title. I. General Provisions. 

1. There is in each department a general council. 

2. The general council elects from within its own body 
a departmental cO'mmission. 

3. The prefect is the representative of the executive au- 
thority within the department. He is, in addition, charged 
with the preliminary investigation of matters which are of 
importance to the department, as well as the carrying out of 
the decisions of the general council and of the departmental 



6i4 Local Government Laws 

commission, in conformity with the provisions of the present 
law. 

Title II. Of the Formation of the General Councils. 

4. Each canton of the department elects one member of 
the general council. 

5. The election is made by universal suffrage, in each 
commune from the lists drawn up for the municipal elections. 

6. All citizens enrolled upon a list of electors, or proving 
that they ought to be enrolled there before the day of the 
election, fully twenty-five years of age, who are domiciled 
within the department, and those who, without being' domiciled 
there, are listed there upon the roll of one of the direct taxes 
on the 1st of January of the year in which the election takes 
place, or who prove that they ought to be enrolled there on 
that day or that they have inherited since the same date a 
rea:l estate property within the department, are eligible to the 
general council. However, the general councillors not dom- 
iciled cannot exceed one-fourth the total number of which 
the council shall be composed. 

14. No one is elected a member of the general council at 
the first ballot, unless he unites: ist, a majority of the votes 
cast ; 2d, a number of votes equal to a fourth of that of the 
enrolled electors. 

At the second ballot, the election takes place by plurality, 
whatever may be the number of voters. If several candidates 
obtain the same number of votes, the election is awarded to 
the eldest. 

21. The general councillors are selected for six years ; 
they are renewed by half every three years and are re-eligible 
indefinitely. . . . 

Title III. Of the Sessions of the General Councils. 

23. The general councils have each year two ordinary 
sessions. 

The session in which the budget and the accounts are 
considered commences ipso facto the first Monday which 
follows August 15 and can be postponed only by a law. 



Local Government Laws 615 

The opening of the other session takes place lUpon the 
day fixed by the general council in the session of the preced- 
ing August. . . . 

The duration of the August session cannot exceed one 
month ; that of the other ordinary session cannot exceed 
fifteen days. 

27. The prefect has entrance to the general council ; he is 
heard when he demands it and is present at the deliberations, 
except when the auditing of his accounts is in question. 

28. The sittings of the general councils are public. Nev- 
ertheless, upon the request of five members, the president or 
the prefect, the general council, by rising and sitting, without 
debate, decides whether it will form itself into secret com- 
mittee. 

33. Every act and every decision of a general council in 
relation to matters which are not legally included within its 
powers is null and void. The nullity is pronounced by a de- 
cree rendered in the form of public administrative regulations. 

35. During the sessions of the National Assembly the dis- 
solution of a general council can be pronounced by the 
head of the executive power only under the express obligation 
to render an account of it to the assembly within the shortest 
space of time possible 

36. In the interim of the sessions of the National Assem- 
bly, the head of the executive power can pronounce the dis- 
solution of a general council for causes peculiar to this coun- 
cil. 



Title IV. Of the Attributes of the General Councils. 

37. The general council apportions each year, at its August 
session, the direct taxes, in conformity with the rules estab- 
lished by the laws. 

40. The general council votes the additional centimes the 
collection of which is authorised by the laws. 



6i6 Local Government Laws 

It can vote extraordinary centimes within the limit of the 
maximum annually fixed by the law of finances. 

It can likewise vote departmental loans, reimbursable 
within a period which cannot exceed fifteen years, out of the 
ordinary and extraordinary resources. 

42. The general council determines each year at its 
August session, within the limits annually fixed by the law of 
finances, the maximum number of extraordinary centimes 
which the municipal councils are authorised to vote, in order 
to appropriate the proceeds of them for extraordinary ex- 
penses of communal utility. 

44. The general council effects the recognition, determines 
the width and prescribes the opening and repair of crossroads 
which are highways and of common interest. . . . 

46. The general council decides finally upon the mat- 
ters hereinafter designated, to wit : 

[Here follow twenty-six distinct matters em.bracing the 
more important powers of local administration.] 

47. The resolutions in which the general councils make 
definitive decisions are carried into efifect, unless within a 
period of twenty days, dating from the close of the session, 
the prefect has demanded the setting aside of them for excess 
of power or for violation of a provision of a law or a regu- 
lation of public administration. 

48. The general council deliberates over: 

[Here follow five important matters of local government.] 

49. The resolutions taken by the general council upon the 
matters enumerated in the preceding article are carried into 
effect, unless within a period of three months, dating from the 
closing of the session, a decree with statement of reasons has 
suspended their execution. 

50. The general council gives its opinion upon : 
[Here follow three matters of local government.] 

St. The general council can address directly tq the min- 
ister concerned, through the medium of its president, the com- 
plaints which it shall have to present in the special interest 
of the department, as well as its opinion upon the condition 



Local Government Laws 617 

and the needs of the different public services, in that which 
touches the department. 

AH expressions of political opinions are forbidden to it. 
Nevertheless, it can express opinions upon all economic and 
general administrative questions. 

Title V. Of the Budget and of the Accounts of the 
Department. 

57. The project for the budget of the department is pre- 
pared and presented by the prefect, who is required to commu- 
nicate it to the departmental commission, with the corrobora- 
tive docum.ents, at least ten days before the opening of the 
August session. 

The budget, considered by the general council, is defini- 
tively determined by decree. 

It is divided into ordinary budget and extraordinary budg- 
et. 



Title VI. Of the Departmental Commission. 

69. The departm.ental commission is elected each year at 
the end of the August session. 

It is composed of at least four members and of seven at 
most, and it includes one member chosen, as nearly as pos- 
sible, from among the councillors elected or domiciled in each 
district. The members of the commission are re-ebgible in- 
definitely. 

75. The members of the departmental commission do not 
receive any compensation. 

76. The prefect or his representative is present at the sit- 
tings of the commission ; they are heard when they demand it. 

^y. The departmental commission controls the matters 
which are remitted to it by the general council, within the 
limits of the delegation that is made to it. It deliberates over 
all the questions that are referred to it by the prefect, and 
it gives its opinion to the prefect upon all the questions which 



6i8 The Army Law 

he submits to it or upon which it beheves that it ought to 
call his attention in the interest of the department. 

79. At the opening of each ordinary session of the gen- 
eral council, the departmental commission makes a report to 
it upon the whole of its labors and submits to it all the pro- 
posals that it believes useful. 

At the opening of the August session, it presents in a sum- 
mary report its observations upon the budget proposed by the 
prefect. These reports are printed and distributed, unless the 
commission decides otherwise in regard to them. 

Special or Temporary Provisions. 

94. The present law is not applicable to the department of 
the Seine. A special law shall be enacted in respect to it. 

128. Law for Reorganizing the Army. 

July 27, 1872. Duvergier, Lois, LXXII, 332-362. 

The disasters of the Franco-Prussian war making necessary a 
complete reorganization of the French army, this law was passed 
after careful consideration, and with very slight alterations it is 
still in force. Two features of it call for particular notice, (1) 
the principle upon which military service is based, (2) the man- 
ner in which that principle is applied. 

Ri'.PEEENCKS. Seignobos. Europe Since ISllf, 195 ; Hanotaux, 
Contemporary Prance, I, 465-468 : Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire 
ci6nerale, XII, 10 : Rambaud. CiiHisatiop, contemporaine, 564-570 ; 
Ecse, European Nations, I, 143-144 ; Jaurfes, Histoire socialiste, XII, 
73-74. 

Title I. General Provisions. 

I. Every Frenchman owes personal military service. 

3. Eyery Frenchman who is not declared unfit for all mil- 
itary service can be summoned, from the age of twenty years 
to that of forty years, to make up part of the active army and 
of the reserves, according to the mode determined by the law. 

4. Substitution is suppressed. 

The exemptions from service, under the conditions specified 
by the law, are not granted as final discharges. 

5. The men present in person do not take part in any vot- 
ing. 



The Army Law 619 

Title II. Of the Summonses. 

Section II. Of the exemptions. . . . 

16. Young men whose infirmities render them unfit for all 
active or auxiliary service in the army are exempt from mil- 
itary service. 

17. These are exempt from military service in time of 
peace : 

1st The eldest of orphans who have lost both father and 
mother ; 

2d. The only son or the eldest of the sons, or in default 
of son or son-in-law, the only grandson or the eldest of the 
grandsons of a woman actually a widow, or a woman whose 
husband has been legally pronounced absent, or of a father 
who is blind or has entered upon his seventieth year ; 

In the cases provided for by the two preceding paragraphs, 
the younger brother shall enjoy the exemption if the elder 
brother is blind or afflicted with any other incurable infirmity 
which renders him impotent; 

3d. The elder of two brothers summoned to make up part 
of the same drawing, if the younger is pronounced fit for the 
service; 

4th. One whose brother shall be in the active army; 

5th. One whose brother shall have died in active service 
or sha]] have been discharged or allowed to retire on account 
of wounds received in a required service or on account of in- 
firmities contracted in the army or navy. 

20. These are by conditional right exempt from military 
service : 

[Seven different classes are named. With the exception of 
a few artists, all are either teachers or students preparing 
themselves for places of public utility in state or church.] 

22. Young men designated by the municipal councils of 
the commune where they are domiciled as the indispensable 
supporters of families can be exempted by provisional title, if 
they discharge these duties efficiently. . . . 

These exemptions can be granted up to the extent of four 



620 The Army Law 

per cent, per department of the number of young men pro- 
nounced fit for the service. . . . 



Title III. Of the MiUtary Service. 

36. Every Frenchman who is not declared unfit for all 
military service makes up part : 

Of the active arm.y for five years; 

Of the reserve of the active army for four years; ■ 

Of the territorial army for five years ; 

Of the reserve of the territorial anny for six years. 

1st. The active army, independently of the men who are 
not recruited by the summons, is composed of all the young 
men declared fit for one of the services of the army and in- 
cluded in the last five classes summoned; 

2d. The reserve of the active army is composed of all the 
men likewise declared fit for one of the services of the army 
and included in the four classes summoned immediately be- 
fore those which form the active army; 

3d. The territorial army is composed of all the men who 
have completed the time of service prescribed for the active 
army and the reserve ; 

4th. The reserve of 'the territorial army is composed of the 
men who have completed the time of service for that army. 

40. After a year of service no more of the young men in 
the conditions set forth in the preceding article, [i.e., all who 
are taken into the active army] are kept with the colors than 
the number of men fixed each year by the minister of war. 

41. Nothwithstanding the provisions of the preceding arti- 
cle, the soldier included in the category of those not bound to 
remain with the colors, but who, after the year of service men- 
tioned in the said article, does not know how to read and write 
and does not meet the examinations prescribed by the minister 
of war, can be kept in the ranks for a second year. 

The soldier, placed in the same category, who, by instruc- 
tion .acquired prior to his entrance into the service and by 
that received with the colors, fulfils all the conditions required 
after six months, at dates fixed by the minister of war and 
before the expiration of the year, can be sent to his home up- 



The Army Law 621 

on the unattached list, in accordance with the following ar- 
ticle. 

42. The young men who, after the time of service pre- 
scribed by articles 40 and 41, are not kept with the colors re- 
main in their homes on the unattached list of the active army 
and at the disposal of the minister of war. They are by a 
regulation of the minister of war subject to reviews and drills. 



Title V. Of Enlistments, Re-enlistments and Conditional 
Enlistments. 



Section III. Of conditional enlistments for one year. 

53. The young men who have obtained the diplomas of 
bachelor of letters, bachelor of science, the diplomas of com- 
pletion of studies or certificates of capacity established by ar- 
ticles 4 and 6 of the law of June 21, 1865 ; those who make 
up part of the central school of arts and manufactures, the na- 
tional schools of arts and crafts, the national schools of fine 
arts, the Conservatory of Music; the pupils of the national 
veterinary schools and the national schools of agriculture ; the 
day-scholars of the school of mines, the school of bridges and 
roads, the school of naval engineering and the pupils of the 
Saint Stephen school of miners, before the drawing of the 
lot, v/hen they present the certificates of studies designated 
by a regulation inserted in the Bulletin of the Laws, are al- 
lowed to contract conditional enlistments in the army for one 
year, according to the mode prescribed by the said regulation. 

54. Independently of the young men indicated in the pre- 
ceding article, those who meet one of the examinations re- 
quired by the different programs prepared by the minister of 
war and approved by decrees rendered in the form of public 
administrative regulations are allowed before the drawing of 
the lot to contract a similar engagement. 

55. The volunteer enlisted for one year is clothed, mount- 
ed, equipped and supported at his own expense. 

However, the minister of war can exempt from all or 
part of the obligations prescribed in the preceding paragraph 
the young men who have given in their examination proofs of 



622 Overthrow of Thiers 

capacity and who prove in the forms prescribed by the regu- 
lation that it is impossible for them to meet the expenses re- 
sulting from these obligations. 



129. Documents upon the Overthrow of Thiers. 

During the latter part of 1872 Thiers alienated many members 
of the National Assembly who had at first supported him. All the 
monarchists were offended by his announcement that in his opin- 
ion the time had come when the question of the definitive form of 
government should be settled and that the Republic was the form 
which ought to be adopted. Some conservative republicans were 
offended at his refusal to use his presidential authority for the 
repression of the radical republican agitation going on in the 
country. These documents show how the two groups by combining 
forces brought about the overthrow of Thiers. They also show 
the precise issues raised and something of the attitudes towards 
them. Document A was presented by the monarchists. Document 
B is Thiers' reply to document A. The scheme of government 
which is brought forward should be compared with the constitution 
afterwards adopted (see No. 133). Document C is the propo- 
sition upon which the voting occurred. It was adopted, 360 
to 345. Document D was read in the National Assembly to ex- 
plain the votes cast by the fifteen conservative republicans who 
signed it. Document E was issued by the radical republicans after 
the resignation of Thiers. Gambetta was its author. 

Refeeknces. SeignobOR, Europe Since 18V,, 196-197 ; Andrews, 
Modern Europe, II, 351-352 ; Hanotaux, Contemporary France, I, 
622-652 ; Simon, The Gorermnent of Thiers, II, 424-465 ; Lavisse 
and Rambaud, Histoire generale, XII, 10-13 ; Jaures, Histoire so- 
cialiste, XII, 98-104. 

A. The De Broglie Interpellation. May 19, 1873. Journal 
OMciel, May 20, 187.3 (Vol. 1873, 3204). 

The undersigned, convinced that the gravity of the situation 
requires at the head of affairs a cabinet whose firmness re- 
assures the country, ask to interpellate the ministry upon the 
late alterations which have just been effected in their body 
and upon the necessity of causing to prevail in the govern- 
ment a resolutely conservative policy. 

They propose to fix upon Friday as the day for the dis- 
cussion of this interpellation. 

B. The Governm.ent Proposals. May 19, 1873. Journal 
Officxel, ]May 20, 1873 (Vol. 1873, 3208-3209). 

Project of Law. 

I. The government of the Republic is composed of a sen- 



Overthrow of Thiers 623 

ate, a chamber of representatives, and a president of the Re- 
public, head of the executive power. 

2. The senate is formed out of 265 members, French cit- 
izens at least thirty-five years of age and enjoying all their 
civil, political and family rights. 

I'he chamber of representatives is formed out of 537 mem- 
bers, French citizens, at least twenty-five years of age and 
enjoying all their civil, political and family rights. 

The president of the Republic must be at least forty years 
of age and must enjoy all his civil, political and family rights. 

3. The senate is selected for ten years and is renewed by 
a fifth every two years. 

The chamber of representatives is selected for five years, 
and is renewed as a body after the fifth year. 

The president of the Republic is selected for five years; 
he can be re-elected. 

4. Each of the eighty-six departments of France selects 
three senators ; the territory of Belfort, the departments of 
Algeria, the islands of Reunion, Martinique and Guadeloupe 
each elects one. 

The election is made by the direct vote of the electors of 
the department, territory or colony; and by scrutin de liste 
for the departments of France. 

5. Only the following can be elected to the position of 
senator : 

1st. The members of the chamber of representatives; 

2d. The former members of the legislative assemblies; 

3d. The ministers' and former ministers ; 

4th. The members of the Council of State, of the court 
of cassation and of the court of accounts ; 

5th. The presidents and former presidents of the general 
councils : 

6th. The members of the Institute; 

7th. The appointed members of the superior council of 
commerce, agriculture and industry; 

8th. The cardinals, archbishops and bishops; 

9th. The presidents of the two consistories of the con- 
fessioin of Augsburg which count the greatest number of 
electors and of the twelve consistories of the reformed relig- 
ion which count the greatest number of electors; 



624 Overthrow of Thiers 

loth. The president and the grand rabbi of the central 
consistory of the Israelites of France ; 

nth. The marshals and generals of division and the ad- 
mirals and vice-admirals in active service or upon the reserve 
list, the governors of Algeria and of the three great colonies 
who have exercised these functions for five years ; 

I2th. The prefects in active service ; 

13th. The mayors of cities of over 100,000 souls; 

14th. The functionaries who for two years have filled the 
positions of directors in the central administrations of the 
minis) ries ; 

15th. The retired magistrates who have belonged to the 
court of cassation or to the court of appeals, or who have 
filled the oosition of president of a civil tribunal. 

6. The eligibles designated in paragraphs i, 4 and 12 of 
the preceding article shall declare within the fifteen days 
which shall follow the elections whether they intend to accept 
the position of senator. Their silence shall be equivalent to 
a refusal ; their acceptance shall entail ipso facto their resigna- 
tion from the posts which they occupy. 

7. Each of the 362 districts of France, including therein 
the territon/ of Belfort, selects one representative. Never- 
theless, the district whose population exceeds 100,000 inhab- 
itants shall elect as many representatives as it shall have times 
100,000 inhabitants, every supplementary fraction comiting as 
100,000 inhabitants. 

The apportionment cannot be altered except in virtue of 
the quinquennial census of the population and through a law. 

Two representatives are assigned to each of the depart- 
ments of Algeria and one to each of the six colonies of 
Reunion, Martinique Guadeloupe, Senegal, Guiana and French 
India. 

8. The election of the representatives is made by the di- 
rect vote of all the electors of the district. The district which 
shall have several representatives to select shall be divided 
into as many sections as it shall have representatives. The 
sections shall be formed by agglomerations of cantons. They 
cannot be established or modified except by a law. 

9. The President of the Republic is selected by a congress 
oom.posed of: ist, the members of the senate; 2d, the members 
of the chamber of representatives; 3d, a delegation of three 



Overthrow of Thiers 625 

members designated by each of the general councils of 
France and of Algeria in their annual session in the month of 
Aug n St. 

This congress shall be presided over by the president of 
the senate. 

10. When there shall be occasion to select the president 
of the Republic, the president of the senate, within eight 
days, shall convoke the senators, the representatives and the 
designated councillors-general. 

The interval until the meeting cannot exceed fifteen days. 

The president of the Republic shall be selected by majority 
of the votes. 

The president of the senate shall give notice of the selec- 
tion to the president of the Republic elect and to the pres- 
■ident cf the cham.ber of representatives. 

Attributes of the Public Authorities. 

11. The initiative for laws belongs to the two chambers 
and to the president of the Republic. 

The two chambers share equally in the making of the laws. 
Nevertheless, tax-laws are submitted first to the chamber of 
representatives. 

The senate can be constituted into a court of justice in 
order to try prosecutions for responsibility against the pres- 
ident and the ministers and the general.s-in-chief of the arm.y 
and navy. 

12. Each of the chambers is the judge of the eligibility 
of its members and of the regularity of their election; it 
alone can receive their resignations. 

13. The senators and the representatives shall not be 
questioned, accused or tried at any time for the opinions which 
they shall have expressed in the chamiber to which they belong. 

Thoy cannot be arrested for criminal matters, saving the 
case of flagrante delicto, nor prosecuted until after the cham- 
ber to which they belong has authorised the prosecution. 

14. The president of the Republic promulgates the laws 
when they have been voted by the two chambers. He looks 
after and assures the execution of them. 

He negotiates and ratifies treaties. No treaty is definitive 
until after it has been approved by the two chambers. 



626 Overthrow of Thiers 

He has the right to pardon ; amnesties can be granted only 
through a law. 

He disposes of the armed force, without authority to com- 
mand it in person. 

He presides at the national solemnities; the envoys and 
ambassadors of foreign powers are accredited to him. 

The president of the Republic and the ministers, taken 
either individually or collectively, are responsible for the acts 
of the government. 

15. When the president of the Republic shall be of the 
opinion that the interest of the country requires the renewal 
of the chamber of representatives before the normal expira- 
tion of its powers, he shall ask of the senate the authorisa- 
tion to dissolve it. This authorisation cannot be given ex- 
cept in secret committee and by majority of votes. It must 
be given within a space of eight days. 

The electoral colleges must be convoked within the three 
days which shall follow the notification made to. the president 
of the Republic of the affirmative vote of the senate. 

Temporary Provisions. " 

16. When the National Assembly shall have determined 
by a vote the date at which it will separate, the president of 
the Republic shall convoke the electoral colleges for the elec- 
tion of the representatives and ultimately for the election of 
the senators in such a manner that the two chambers can con- 
stitute themselves upon the same da}' with the dissolution. 

The powers of the president of the Republic shall contin- 
ue until the notification of the congress which shall have 
elected the new president. 

The President of the Republic, 
A. Thiers. 

C. The Ernoul Order of the Day. May 24, 1873. Journal 

Officiel, May 25, 1873 (Vol. 1873, 3315). 

The National Assembly, 

Considering that the form of the government is not in 
discussion; that the assembly is in possession of the con- 
stitutional laws presented in virtue of one of its decisions, 
and that it ought to examine them; but that, from to-day, it 



The White Flag Letter 627 

is important to reassure the country by causing to prevail in 
the government a resolutely conservative policy, regrets that 
the recent ministerial alterations have not given to the con- 
servative interests the satisfaction which they had the right 
to expect, and passes to the order of the day. 

D. The Target Declaration. May 24, 1873. Journal Of- 
ndel, May 25, 1873 (Vol. 1873, 33iS)- 

In the name of my colleagues, whose names follow, I have 
the honor to declare, in order to define precisely the idea and 
bearing of our votes, that, in associating ourselves together 
upon the order of the day, we all declare ourselves resolved 
to accept the republican solution such as results from the to- 
tality of the constitutional laws presented by the government, 
and to put an end to the provisional government which com- 
promises the material interests of the country. We intend, in 
adopting this order of the day, [?. e. Ernoul's], to express the 
idea that the government of the President of the Republic 
henceforth ought to cause to prevail by its acts a clear and 
resolutely conservative policy. 

E. Manifesto of the Extreme Left. May 24, 1873. Trans- 
lation, The Times (London), May 25, 1873. 

The members of the extreme left, while recognizing the 
gravity of the present state of affairs, are convinced that they 
have the country at their back, and are unanimously of opin- 
ion that v/ith coolness and vigilance they will be able to avert 
all danger. They declare that there exist in the assembly the 
necessary elements for the formation of a majority capable of 
withstanding the government in any reactionary attempts. 

130. The White Flag Letter. 

October 27, 1873. Archives diplomatiques, LIII, 26-28. 
Translation based upon that of The Times (London), October 31, 
1S73. 

This document throws light upon the most serious attempt 
after 1870 to re-establish monarchy in France. A fusion of the 
legitimist and Orleanist forces having been arranged, the recogni- 
ticn of the Count of Chambord as king by the National Assembly 



628 The White Flag Letter 

seemed almost a certainty. To get favorable action, however, it 
was necessary that there should be agreement as to a constitution 
and a flas- At a time when the fusionists in the National As- 
sembly believed that these matters had been satisfactorily ar- 
ranged, including the adoption of the tri-color, the Count of Cham- 
bord astonished and disconcerted his supporters by publishing this 
letter. It made impossible his election, and thereby prevented the 
re-establishment of monarchy. If carefully studied the document 
will reveal, back of its vague and figurative language, the reasons 
why the Count of Chambord could not accept the kind of position 
which his election by the National Assembly would have entailed. 
The letter was addressed to a legitimist member of the National 
Assembly. 




I have preserved, sir, so pleascint a recollection of your 
visit to Salzburg, I have conceived so great an esteem for 
your noble character, that I do not hesitate to address my- 
self frankly to you, as you came frankly to me. 

You spoke with me for many hours about the destinies of 
our dear and v\fel!-beloved country, and I know that on your 
return, you pronounced among your colleagues words which 
will earn for you my eternal gratitude. I thank you for hav- 
ing so well understood the anguish of my heart, and for 
concealing nothing of the unshakable firmness of my decisions. 

Accordingly, I was not disturbed when public opinion, 
carried away by a current which I deplore, alleged that I at 
last consented to become the legitimist king of the revolution. 
1 had for guarantee the testimony of a man of feeling, and I 
resolved to keep silent until I should be forced to make an 
appeal to your loyalty. 

But since, notwithstanding your efforts, misapprehensions 
accimiulate, which tend to obscure my policy though it is 
clear as the open sky, I owe the whole truth to that country 
which may misunderstand me, but which does homage to 
my sincerity, because it knows that I never have deceived it 
and that I never will deceive it. 

I am asked today to sacrifice my honor. What can I re- 
ply but that I retract nothing of my former declarations? 
The claims of yesterday give me the measure of the de- 
mands of the morrow, and I cannot consent to inaugurate a 
reparative and strong reign by an act of weakness. 

It is the fashion, as you know, to contrast the firmness of 
Henry V with the suppleness of Henry IV. 'The passionate 



The White Flag Letter 629 

love which I bear my subjects," he often said, '"makes every- 
Ihing possible and honorable for me." 

I claim, itpon that point, to yield nothing to him, but I 
would wish to know what lesson he would have drawn 
for ^ the one bold enough to persuade him to renounce the 
standard of Arques and Ivry. 

You belong, sir, to the province where he was born, and 
you will be, as I am, of the opinion that he would have 
promptly disarmed his interlocutor by saying with his Bear- 
nese vigor : "My friend, take my white flag, it will always lead 
you in the way of honor and victory." 

I am accused of not holding in high enough esteem the 
valor of our soldiers, and that at a moment at which I as- 
pire only to confide to them all that which I have held most 
dear. It is forgotten, then, that honor is the common patri- 
mony of the house of Bourbon and of the French armj^, and 
that, upon that ground, they cannot fail to understand tach 
other ! 

No, I do not fail to appreciate any of the glories of my 
country, and God alone, in the depths of my exile, has seen 
my tears of thankfulness flov/ every time that in good or in 
evil fortune, the children of France have shown themselves 
worthy of her. 

But we have a great work to accomplish together. I am 
ready, quite ready, to undertake it when so desired, tomorrow, 
this evenixig, this moment 1 That is why I wish to remain 
entirely as I am. Enfeebled today, I would be powerless [to- 
morrov/]. 

The problem is nothing less than to reconstitute upon its 
natural basis a profoundly disturbed society, to assure ener- 
getically the reign of law, to bring about the rebirth of pros- 
perity within, to contract abroad enduring alliances, and es- 
pecially not to fear to employ force in the service of order 
and justice. 

Conditions are spoken of: were any laid down by that 
young prince, whose loyal embrace I felt with so much hap- 
piness, and who, listening only to his patriotism, came spon- 
taneously to me, bringing me in the name of all his kindred 
assurances of peace, devotion, and reconciliation ? 

Guarantees are desired: were they asked of that Bayard 
of modern times, on that memorable night of the 24th of May, 



630 Law of the Septennate 

when there was imposd on his modesty the glorious mission 
of calming his country by one of those words of an honest 
man and soldier which reassure the good and make the wicked 
tremble? 

I have not, it is true, borne as he has the sword of France 
upon twenty battlefields, but I have preserved intact during 
forty-three years the sacred deposit of our traditions and our 
liberties. I have then the right to count upon the same con- 
fidence and I ought to inspire the same securitj'. 

My person is nothing: rny principle is everything. France 
will see the end of her trials when she is willing to under- 
stand this. I am the necessary pilot, the only one capable of 
guiding the ship to port, because I have mission and authori- 
ty for that. 

You can do much, sir, to remove misunderstandings and 
to prevent feebleness in the hour of conflict. Your consoling 
words, on leaving Salzburg, are ever present to my mind : 
France can not perish, for Christ still loves his Franks, and 
when God has resolved to save a people, He takes care 
that the sceptre of justice be put only in hands strong enough 
to bear it. 

(Signed), Henry. 

131. Law of the Septennate. 

Novembei- 20, 1S73. Duvergier, Lois, LXXIII, 363-368. 

This law was enacted after the failure of the attempt to re- 
store monarchy. (See No. 130.) Opposed by the two estremes, 
it was passed by a combination of centre groups, each group vot- 
ing for it out of motives peculiar to itself. The document should 
be studied in connection with No. 124, as it became with what was 
carried over from those measures a sort of provisional constitu- 
tion. 

Refeeencks. Seignobos, Europe Since 18H, 200 ; Andrews, 
Modern liurope, IT, 3.53-354; Bodley, France, I, 281 ;' Hanotaus. 
Contemporary Franca, II. 276-334 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire 
gcnerale, XII, 14-15 ; Jaur&s, Histoire socialiste, XII, 115-116. 

I. The executive power is entrusted for seven years to 
Marshal de MacMahon, Duke of Magenta, dating from' the 
promulgation of the present law ; this power shall continue 
to be exercised with the title of President of the Republic 
and under the existing conditions until the modifications which 
may be effected therein by the constitutional law.s. 



iiir 



epublic 631 



2. Within the three days which follow the promulgation 
of the present law, a commission, of thirty members shall be 
selected in public and by scrutin de liste, for the considera- 
tion of the constitutional laws. 



132. Documents upon the Establishment of the 
Republic. 

These documents, with those alluded to in them, show the 
manner in which the Third Republic became definitively established. 
The first two show the status of the matter during 1874. Docu- 
ment A represents the program of those who desired that the Re- 
public should be proclaimed at once ; document B, that of their 
opponents. The difference between the two should be carefully 
noted and each should be compared with the plan of government 
finally adopted (No. 133). The National Assembly was unable to 
come to a decision upon the issue presented by the two documents. It 
rejected document A, after having once given it an indirect sanc- 
tion, but It did not adopt the positive program of document B. 
When the assembly met again in January, 1875, the republicans 
finally succeeded in accomplishing indirectly what they had failed 
to do directly. This was done by amending document B. Several 
amendments only slightly different in meaning were offered and 
beaten, llocument C is a type of these amendments. Document 
D, the amendment finally secured, was passed by a vote of 353 to 
352. The difference in meaning between document C and D should 
be carefully noted, and likewise the character of the change 
effected in document B through the adoption of the amendment. 

RiiFERBNCES. Seignobos, Europe Since IStl,, 200-201 ; Andrews, 
Modern Europe, II, 354-356 ; C. F. A. Currier, Annals of the 
American Academy of Political and Social Science, Supplement, 
March, 1893, 20-32 ; Hanotaus, Contemporary France. Ill, 1-55, 
124-162 ; Lavisse and Rambaud. Histoire generale, XII, 16-.18 ; 
Jaures, Histoire socialiste, XII, 148-169. 

A. The Casimir-Perier Proposal. June 15, 1874. Journal 
OiHciel, June 16, 1874 (Vol. 1874, 4050). 

The National Assembly, wishing to put an end to the 
anxieties of the country, adopts the following resolution : 

The commission upon the constitutional laws shall take as 
the basis of its labors upon the organiza'cion and transmission 
of the public powers : 

1. Article i of the project of law deposited May 19, 1873, 
thus expressed : "The government of the French Republic 
is composed of two chambers and of a president, head of the 
executive power;" 

2. The law of November 20, 1873, by which the presi- 



632 Establishment of the Republic 

dency of the Republic has been entrusted to M. Marechal 
de MacMahon until November 20, 1880; 

3. The consecration of the right of partial or total re- 
vision of the constitution, in the forms and at the dates 
which the constitutional law shall determine. 

B. The Ventavon Proposal. July 15, 1874, Journal OM- 
cicl, July 16, 1874 (Vol. 1874, 4955)- 

The commission has the honor to propose to you : in the 
first place, to reject the proposal of M. Casimir-Perier upon 
which urgency has been declared ; in the second place, to 
vote in the form of the rule the following articles of the 
constitutional law : 

1. Marshal de MacMahon, President of the Republic, 
continues to exercise with that title the executive authority 
with which he is invested by the law of November 20, 1873. 

2. He is responsible only in the case of high treason. 
The ministers are collectively responsible before the cham- 
bers for the general policy of the government, and individ- 

■ ually for their personal acts. 

3. The legislative power is exercised by two assemblies : 
the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. 

The Chamber of Deputies is selected by universal suffrage, 
under the conditions determined by the electoral law. 

The Senate is composed of members elected or appointed 
in the proportions and under the conditions which shall be 
regulated by a special law. 

4. The Marshal President of the Republic is invested with 
the right to dissolve the Chamber of Deputies. In that case, 
a new election shall take place within the space of six months. 

5. At the expiration of the term fixed by the law of No- 
vember 20, 1873, as in case of vacancy of the presidenftial 
office, the council of ministers immediately convokes the two 
assemblies which, met in congress, decide upon the measures 
to be taken. 

During the continuance of the pov/ers entrusted to Mar- 
shal de MacMahon, revision of the constitutional laws can 
be made only upon his proposal. 



4 



"> 



Constitution of 1875 633 

C. The Proposed Laboulaye Amendment. January 28, 
1875. Journal Ofliciel, January 29, 1875 (Vol. 1875, 768-769). 

The government of the Republic is composed of two 
chambers "and of a president. 

D. The Wallon Amendment. January 30, 1875. Journal 
Officiel, January 30, 1875 (Vol. 1875, 836). 

The President of the RepubUc is elected by the majority 
of the votes by the Senate and by the Chamber of Deputies 
met in National Assembly. 

He is selected for seven years. He is re-eligible. 

133. The Constitution of 1875 and Amend- 
ments. 

Translations, based upon those of C. F. A. Currier, Supplement to 
the Anno,ls of the American Academy of Political and Hocial Sci- 
ence, March, 1893, 42-50. 

These documents taken together constitute tlie present written 
constitution of France. Their real character may be best brought 
out by a series of comparisons. (1) They should be compared 
with "the constitutions whch created some of the preceding gov- 
ernments of France, particularly those of 1830 (No. 105) and 
1848 (No. 110) for the preceding parliamentary regime and the 
preceding republic. (2) A comparison wth a typical written con- 
stitution such as the American federal constitution will empha- 
size one characteristic feature. (3) By comparing the scheme 
of government with the actual government of England other im- 
portant characteristics will be revealed. 

REFEEENCES. Seiguobos, Europe Since ISIJ,, 202-204; l.owell, 
Governments and P<wties in Continental Europe^ I, 11-14; Bodley, 
France 1, 263-270 : Coubertin. Evolution of France under tiic 
Third Republic, 53-61 ; Hanotaux, Contemporary France, III, 283- 
362 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire generale, XII, 19-21 ; Ram- 
baud, Civilisation contcmporaine, 524-529. 

A. Law upon the Organization of the Senate. February 
24, 1875. Duvergier, Lois, LXXV, 54-62. "^ 

I. The Senate consists of three hundred members: 
Two hundred and twenty-five elected by the departments 
and colonies, and seventy-five elected by the National Assem- 
bly. 

The departments of the Seine and of the Nord shall 
each elect five senators. 



y^ 



4/. -C:. 



634 Constitution of 1875 

The departments of the Seine-Inferieure, Pas-de-Calais. 
Gironde, Rhone, Finistere, C6tes-du-Nord, each four senators , 

Loire-Inferieure, Saone-et-Loire, lUe-et-Vilaine, Seine-et- 
Oise, Isere, Puy-de-D6me, Somme, Bouches-du-Rhone, Aisne, 
Loire, Manche, Maine-et-Loire, Morbihan, Dordogne, Haute- 
Garonne, Charente-Inferieure, Calvados, Sarthe, Herault, 
Basses-Pyrenees, Card, Aveyron, Vendee, Orne, Oise, Vosges, 
Allier, each three senators. 

All the other departments each two senators. 

The territory of Belfort, the three departments of Algeria, 
the four colonies of Martinique, Guadeloupe, Reunion and the 
French Indies elect each one senator. 

3. No one can be a senator unless he is a French citizen, 
forty years of age at least, and enjoying civil and political 
rights. 

4. The senators of the departments and colonies are elect- 
ed by majority vote, and, when there is need, by scnitin de 
liste, by a college assembled at the head-town of the depart- 
ment or colony and composed : 

1st, Of the deputies ; 

2d, Of the general councillors; 

3d, Of the district councillors ; 

4th, Of delegates elected, one by each municipal council, 
from among the voters of the commune. 

In the French Indies, the members of the colonial council 
or of the local councils are substituted for the general coun- 
cillors, district councillors and delegates of the municipal 
councils. 

They vote at the head-town of each district. 

5. The senators chosen by the Assembly are elec'ced by 
scrutin de liste and by a majority of the votes. 

6. The senators of the departments and colonies are 
elected for nine years and renewable by thirds every three 
years. 

At the beginning of the first session, the departments shall 
be divided into three series containing an equal number of 
senators each. It shall be determined by lot which series 
shall be renewed at the expiration of the first and second 
triennial periods. 

7. The senators elected by the Assembly are irremovable. 



Constitution of 1875 635 

Vacancies by death, by resignation, or for any other rea- 
son, shall, within the space of two months, be filled by the 
Senate itself. 

8. The Senate has, concurrently with 'the Chamber of 
Deputies, the initiative and making of laws. Money bills, 
however, must first be introduced in, and passed by the Cham- 
ber of Deputies. 

9. The Senate 'may be constituted a court of justice to 
judge either the President of the Republic or the ministers, 
and to take cognizance of attacks made upon the safety of 
the state. 

10. Elections to the Senate shall take place one month 
before the time fixed by the National Assembly for its own 
dissolution. The Senate shall organize and enter upon its 
duties the" same day that the National Assembly is dissolved. 

11. The present law shall be promulgated only after the 
passage of the law on 'che public powers. 

B. Law upon the Organization of the Public Powers. 
Febr uary 25, 18 75. Duvergier, Lois, LXXV, 42-53. 

1. The legislative power is exercised by two assemblies : 
the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. 

The Chamber of Deputies is chosen by universal suffrage, 
under the conditions determined by the electoral law. 

The composition, the method of election, and the powers 
of the Senate shall be regulated by a special law. 

2. The President of the Republic is chosen by a major- 
ity of the votes of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies united 
in National Assembly. 

He is chosen for seven years. He is re-eligible. 

3. The President of the Republic has the initiative of the 
laws, concurrently with the members of the two chambers. 
He promulgates the laws when they have been voted by the 
two chambers ; he looks after and secures their execution. 

He has the right of pardon ; amnesty can be granted by 
law only. 

He disposes of the armed force. 

He appoints to all civil and military positions. "ry 

He presides over national festivals; the envoys and am- 
bassadors of foreign powers are accredited to him. 



-i- 



-4- 



V- 



636 Constitution of 1875 

- Every act of the President of the RepubHc must be coun- 
tersigned by a minister. 

4. As vacancies occur after the promulgation of the pres- 
ent law, the President of the Republic appoints, in the coun- 

■ cil of ministers, the councillors of state in ordinary service. 

The co'uncilors of state thus chosen may be dismissed 
only by a decree rendered in the council of ministers. 

The councillors of state chosen by virtue of the law of 
May 24, 1872, cannot, before the expiration of their powers, 
be dismissed, except in the manner determined by that law.- 
After the dissolution of the National Assembly, dismissal 
may be pronounced only by a resolution of the Senate. 

5. The President of the Republic may, with the consent 
of the Senate, dissolve the Chamber of Deputies before the 
legal expiration of its term. 

In that case, the electoral colleges are summoned for new 
elections within the space of three months. 

6. The ministers are jointly responsible to the chambers 
for the general policy of the government, and individually for 
their personal acts. 

j The President of the Republic is responsible only in case 

I of high treason. 

7. In case of vacancy by death or for any other reason, 
/ the two chambers assembled together proceed at once to the 
' ^ election of a new president. 

In the meantime the council of ministers is invested with 
the executive power. 

8. The chambers shall have the right, by separate reso- 
, lutions, taken in each by a majority of the votes, either upon 

~/-~their own initiative or upon the request of the President of 
the Republic, to declare that a revision of the constitutional 
laws shall take place. 

After each of the two chambers shall have come to this 
decision, they shall meet together in National Assembly to 
proceed with the revision. 

The acts effecting revision of the constitutional laws, in 
whole or in part, must be by a majority of the members com- 
posing the National Assembly. 

During the continuance, however, of the powers conferred 
by the law of November 20, 1873, upon Marshal de Mac- 






Constitution of 1875 637 

Mahon, this revision can take place only upon the initiative 
of the President of the Republic. 

9. The seat of the executive power and of the two chani'" |f v^ucii,^- 
bers is at Versailles. V</-^ ^^j> 

C. Liw upon the Relation of the Public Powers. July 16, \ ^f^^-^ *' 
1875. Duvergier, Lois, LXXV, 250-255. j »*"•*>' 

1. The Senate and the Chamber of Deputies assemble 
each year the second Tuesday of January, unless convened— — f 
earlier by the President of the Republic. > 

The two Chambers shall continue in session at least five 
months each year. The sessions of one begin and end at 
the same time as that of the other. 

On the Sunday following the opening of the session, pub- 
lic prayers shall be addressed to God in the churches and 

temples, to invoke His aid. in the labors of the assemblies. 

. . . i 

2. The President of the Republic pronounces the closing 

of the session. He has the right to convene the chambers -: 
in extra session. He must convene them if, during the recess, 
a majority of the members of each chamber request it. 

The President may adjourn the chambers. The adjourn- 
ment, however, shall not exceed one month, nor take place 
more than twice in the same session. 

3. One month at least before the legal expiration of the ^"r^ 
powers of the President of the Republic, the chambers must 

be called together in National Assembly in order to proceed 
to the election of a new president. 

In default of a summons, this meeting shall take place, ip- ^^^--r 
so facto the fifteenth day before the expiration of those pow- 
ers. 

In case of the death or resignation of the President of 
the Republic, the two chambers shall reassemble immediately 
and ipso facto. 

In case the Chamber of Deputies, in consequence of article 
5 of the law of February 25, 1875, is dissolved at the time 
when the presidency of the Republic becomes vacant, the elec- 
toral colleges shall be convened at once, and the Senate shall 
reassemble ipso facto. 

4. Every meeting of either of the two chambers which 



-[- 



-i 



638 Constitution of 1875 

shall be held at a time other than the common session of 
both is illegal and void, except the case provided for in the 
preceding article and that in which the Senate meets as a 
court of justice; and in this last case, judicial duties alone 
shall be performed. 

5. The sittings of the Senate and those of the Chamber 
of Deputies are public. 

Nevertheless, each chamber may meet in secret session, 
upon the request of a fixed number of its members, deter- 
mined by the rules. 

It decides then by majority whether the sitting shall be 
resumed in public upon the same subject. 
■" 6. The President of the Republic communicates with the 
chambers by messages which are read from the tribune by a 
minister. 

The ministers have entrance to both chambers, and must 
be heard when they request it. They may be represented, for 
the discussion of a bill, by commissioners designated by de- 
cree of the President of the Republic. 

7. The President of the Republic promulgates the laws 
within the month following the transmission to the govern- 
ment of the laws finally passed. He must promulgate within 
three days laws whose promulgation shall have been declared 
urgent by an express vote in each chamber. 

Within the time fixed for the promulgation, the President 
of the Republic may, by message with reasons assigned, re- 
quest of the two chambers a new discussion, which cannot 
be refused. 

The President of the Republic negotiates and ratifies 
the treaties. He gives information thereof to the chambers 
as soon as the interests and safety of the state permit. 

Treaties of peace, and of commerce, treaties which involve 
the finances of the state, those relacing to the persons and 
property of French citizens in foreign countries, shall become 
definitive only after having been voted by the two chambers. 
No session^ no exchange, no annexation of territory can 
take place.by virtue of a law. 

_ 9. The President of the Republic cannot declare war 
except by the previous assent of the two chambers. 

10. Each of the chambers is the judge of the eligibility of 



Constitution of 1875 039 

its members and of the legality of their election ; it alone can 
receive their resignation. 

11. The bureau of each of the two chambers is elected 
each year for the entire session and for any extra session 
which may be held before the ordinary session of the fol- 
lowing year. 

When the two chambers meet together as a National As- 
sembly, their bureau consists of the president, vice-presidencs 
and secretaries of the Senate. 

12. The President of the Republic can be impeached by 
the Chamber of Deputies only, and tried by the Senate only. 

The ministers can be impeached by the Chamber of Dep- 
uties for offences committed in the performance of their 
duties. In this case they are tried by the Senate. 

The Senate can be constituted as a court of justice by a 
decree of the President of the Republic, issued in the council 
of ministers, to try all persons accused. of attempts upon the 
safety of the state. 

If procedure is begun by the ordinary courts, the decree 
convening the Senate may be issued at any time before the 
granting of a discharge. 

A law shall determine the method of procedure for the ac- 
cusation, trial, and judgment. 

13. No member of either chamber can be prosecuted or 
held responsible on account of any opinions expressed or 
votes cast by him in the performance of his duties. 

14. No member of either chamber can, during the ses- 
sion, be prosecuted or arrested for any offence or misdemean- 
or, except on the authority of the chamber of which he is a 
member, unless he be caught in the very act. 

The detention or prosecution of a member of either cham- 
ber is suspended for the session, and for its entire term, if the 
chamber demands it. 

D. Amendment upon the Seat of Gk)vernment. June 21, 
1879. Duvergier, Lois, LXXIX, 213-227. 

Article 9 of the constitutional law of February 25, 1875, is 
repealed, 

E. The Amendments of 1884. August 14, 1884. Duver- 
gier, Lois, LXXXIV, 240-250. 



640 The 1 6th of May Crisis 

I.' Paragraph 2 of article 5 of the constitutional law of 
February 25, 1875, on the organization of the public powers, 
is amended as follows : 

"In that case the electoral colleges meet for new elections 
within the space of two months, and the chambers within the 
ten days following the close of the elections." 

2. Paragraph 3 of article 8 of the same law of Febru- 
ary 25, 1875, is completed as follows : 

"The republican form of government cannot be made the 
subject of a proposition for revision. 

"Members of families that have reigned in France are in- 
eligible to the presidency of the Republic." 

3. Article i to 7 of the constitutional law of February 24, 
1875, on the organization of the Senate, shall no longer have 
a constitutional character. 

4. Paragraph 3 of Article i of the constitutional law of 
July 16, 1875, on the relation of the public powers, is repealed. 



134. Documents upon the 16th of May Crisis. 



From these docnments much may be learned about the real 
nature of the famous 16th of May crisis. The acceptance of the 
resignation virtually asked for in document A and offered in doc- 
ument B led to the adoption by the Chamber of Deputies of doc- 
ument C. It was presented by Gambetta as that agreed upon by 
all the groups of the republican majority and was passed 347 to 
149. In consequence, MacMahon first adjourned the Chamber of 
Deputies for a month and then, with the consent of the Senate, 
dissolved it. The remaining documents, except the last, are in- 
tended to give an idea of the vigorous and acrimonious electoral 
campaign whch followed. In the manifestoes of MacMahon spe- 
cial atteriton should be given to the list of the achievements of 
his government, his explanation of the issues involved, and what 
is announced or implied as to the future. Documents D and F 
are both the work of Gambetta. Their analyses of the situation 
from the republican standpoint and their lists of administrative 
measures for influencing the elections should be carefully noted. 
The elections were an overwhelming victory for the republicans. 
Document H shows how MacMahon accepted the result. 

References. Seignobos, Europe Since 18H, 205-207 ; Andrews, 
Modern Europe, II. 356-3.57 ; Coubertin. Evolution of France under 
ilie Third RepuUic, 61-74 ; Bodley. France, I. 286-291 : Hano- 
taux, Contemporary France. III. 613-621 : Lavisse and Rambaud, 
Histoire generale, XII, 23-28 ; Jaurfes, Histoire socialiste, XII, 196- 
211. 



The 1 6th of May Crisis 641 

A. Letter of MacMahon to Simon. May 16, 1877. Jour- 
nal Oificiel, May 17, 1877 (Vol. 1877, 3689-3690). 

Mr. President of the Council, 

I have just read in the Journal Officicl the report of the 
sitting of yesterday. 

I have seen with surprise that neither you nor Mr. Keeper 
of the Seals urged from the tribune all the weighty reasons 
which possibly might have prevented the abrogation of a law 
upon the press, voted less than two years ago upon the propo- 
sal of M. Dufaure and the application of which you yourself 
very recently asked of the tribiinals ; and, moreover, in several 
meetings of the council, and 'even in that of yesterday it had 
been decided ^hat the president of tiie council, as well as the 
keeper of the seals, should be charged with the duty of com- 
bating it. 

Already there was occasion for astonishment that the 
Chamber of Deputies, in its late sittings, should have dis- 
cussed an entire municipal law, and even adopted some pro- 
visions, of which in the council of ministers you yourself 
have thoroughly recognized the danger, such as the publicity 
of the municipal councils, without the minister of the interior 
having taken part in the discussion. 

This attitude of the head of the cabinet raises the question 
whether he has kept in the chamber the influence necessary 
to make his views prevail. 

An explanation in this matter is indispensable, for if I 
am not responsible as you are to the Parliament, I have a 
responsibility to France, with which, to-day more' than ever, 
I must be preoccupied. 

Accept, Mr. President of the Council, assurance of my 
highest consideration. 

The Peesident of the Republic, 

Marshal de MacMahon. 

B. Letter of Simon to MacMahon, May 16, 1877. Trans- 
lation, Tlic Times (London), Maj' 17, 1877. 

In view of the letter you have thought fit to write to me, 
I feel myself bound to hand you my resignation of the func- 
tions you were good enough to confide to me. I am obliged, 
however, at the same time to tender explanations on two 
points. You regret, M. le Marechal, that I was not present 



642 The 1 6th of May Crisis 

on Saturday in the Chamber, when the first reading of the 
bill on municipal councils was discussed. I regretted it also; 
I was detained at Paris by indisposition; but the question 
of the publicity of the sittings was only to have been dis- 
cussed on the second reading. I had come to an agreement 
on this point with M. Bardouy. M. Perras's amendment, which 
passed, took the assembly unawares, and I had an appoint- 
ment with the committee on Friday morning to try and make 
it reverse its decision before entering on the debate in the 
chamber. All this is known to everybody. As to the bill 
on the press, M. le Marechal, you will be good enough to 
remember that my objections related solely to the case of 
foreign sovereigns. I had always explained myself in this 
sense, as you yourself must remember at. yesterday morning's 
council. I repeated my reservations before the chamber. I 
abstained from elaborating them for reasons which every- 
body knew and approved. As to the rest of the bill, I was in 
agreement with the committee. You will understand, M. le 
President, the motive which leads me to enter into these 
details. I have *;o define my position in a distinct manner at 
the moment of my quitting the council. I scarcely venture 
to add — though as a citizen, and no longer as a minister — 
that I earnestly desire to be succeeded by a man belonging, 
like myself, to the conservative republican party. For five 
months it has been my function to give my advice, and the 
last time I have the honour of writing to you I allow myself 
to express a wish which is solely inspired by my patriotism. 
Pray accept, M. le Marechal, the homage of my respect. 

C. Order of the Day. May 17, 1877. Journal Officiel, May 
18, 1877 (Vol. 1877, 3744). 

The Chamber, 

Considering that it is important in the present crisis and in 
order to fulfill the commission which it has received from 
the country, to recall that the preponderance of the parlia- 
mentary power, exercised through ministerial responsibility, 
is the first condition of the government of the country by 
the country, the establishment of which the constitutional 
laws have had for their purpose; 

Declares that the confidence of the majority can be acquired 
only by a cabinet free in its action and resolved to govern ac- 



The 1 6th of May Crisis 643 

cording to republican principles, which alone can guarantee 
order and prosperity within and peace without, 
And passes to the order of the day. 

D. Manifesto of the Left. About May 20, 1877. Trans- 
lation, The Times (Londoii), May 21, 1877. 

Dear Fellow-Citizens, — A decree which has just struck 
a, blow at your representatives is the first act of the new 
ministry de Combat, which aspires to hold in check the will 
of France. The message of the President of the Republic 
leaves no doubt as to the intentions of his counsellors. The 
chamber is adjourned for a month, till the decree to dissolve 
it is obtained from the Senate. A cabinet which had never 
lost the majority in any vote has been dismissed without 
discussion. The new ministers knew that if they had allowed 
Parliament to speak, the day that witnessed their advent 
would have also witnessed their fall. As it is impossible for 
us to publicly express our reprobation from the tribune, our 
first thought is to turn towards you, and tell you, like the re- 
publicans of the National Assembly of the 24th of M,ay, 1873, 
that the etfcrts of the men who have returned to power will 
be once more powerless. France wishes the Republic. She 
said so on the 20th of February, 1876. She will say so again 
every time she is consulted, and it is because universal suf- 
frage has to renew this year the departmental and communal 
councils that it is attempted to stop the expression of the 
national will, and that the first step taken is to shut your 
representatives' mouths ; as after the 24th of May the nation 
will show, by its coolness, patience, and resolution, that an 
incorrigible minority cannot wrest from it its own government 
However painful this unexpected trial may be which is dis- 
turbing the interests, and which might compromise the success 
of the grand efforts of our industry for the great and pacific 
universal exhibition of 1878, whatever be the national anxiety 
amid the complications of European politics, France will 
let herself neither be deceived nor intimidated. She will re- 
sist every provocation. The republican functionaries will 
remain at their posts and await the decree which separates 
them from constituencies whose confidence they have. Those 
of our countrymen who have been called into the elective 



644 The i6th of May Crisis 

councils of the nation will redouble their zeal and activity, 
their devotion and patriotism, to maintain the rights and lib- 
erties of the country. We shall enter into direct communi- 
cation with yon. We call upon you to pronounce between 
the policy of reaction and ventures, which overturns all that 
six years have so painfully gained — the wise and firm, pacific 
and progressive pohcy which you have already consecrated. 
The trial will not be long. In five months at most France 
will speak; the Republic will issue, stronger than ever, from 
the popular urns ; the parties of the past will be finally van- 
quished; and France will be able to face the future with 
calmness and confidence. 

E. MacMahon's Manifesto to the French People. Sep- 
tember 19, 1877. Journal OMcicl, September 20, 1877 (Vol. 
1877, 6381). 

Marshal De MacMahon, President of the Republic, to the 
French People. 

Frenchmen ! 

You are about to be called upon to select your representa- 
tives in the Chamber of Deputies. 

I do not design to exert any pressure upon your choice, 
but I am bound to dissipate all ambiguity. 

It is necessary that you should know what I have done, 
what I intend to do, and what will be the consequences of 
that which you are about to do yourselves. 

This is what I have done : 

For four years I have maintained peace, and the personal 
confidence with which foreign sovereigns honor me has en- 
abled me to render more cordial each day our relations v/ith 
all the powers. 

At home order has not been disturbed for one moment. 

Thanks to a policy of conciliation which summoned around 
me all the men devoted before anything else to the country, 
the public prosperity, for a moment arrested by our misfor- 
tunes, has resumed its advance. The general wealth has in- 
creased despite our heavy expenses. The national credit has 
been strengthened. 

France, peaceable and confident, at the same time has seen 



The i6th of May Crisis 645 

her army, always worthy of her, reconstituted upon a new 
basis. 

But these great results were in danger of being compro- 
mised. 

The Chamber of Deputies, escaping more each day from the 
leadership of moderate men, and more and more dominated 
by the avowed leaders of radicalism, had come to disregard the 
portion of authority which belongs to me and which I could 
not allow to be diminished without involving the honor of 
my name before you and before history. Contesting at the 
same time the legitimate influence of the Senate, it aimed at 
nothing less than to substitute for the necessary equilibrium 
of the powers estabHshed by the constitution the despotism of 
a new convention. 

Hesitation was not permissible. 

Making use of my constitutional right, upon the advice of 
the Senate, I dissolved the Chamber of Deputies. 

Now it is for you to speak. 

It is said that I wish to overthrow the Republic. 

You will not believe it. 

The constitution is entrusted to my keeping. I shall cause 
it to be respected. 

What I expect of you is the election of a chamber which, 
raising itself above the competition of parties, will before all 
else devote itself to the affairs of the country. 

At the last elections my name was abused. Among those 
who then said that they were my friends many have not 
ceased opposing me. They will speak to-day of devotion to 
my person, and allege that they attack only my ministers. 

You will not be the dupes of that artifice. In order to 
defeat it, my government will designate to you from among 
the candidates those who alone will be authorised to use my 
name. 

You will weigh maturely the significance of your votes. 

Elections favorable to my policy will facilitate the regular 
progress of the present government. They will strengthen the 
principle of authority which has been sapped by demagogy; 
Ihey will assure order and peace. 

Hostile elections would aggravate the conflict between 
the public powers, fetter the progress of affairs, keep up the 



646 The 1 6th of May Crisis 

agitation, and France, in the midst of new complications, 
would become an object of distrust to Europe. 

As for me, my duty would increase with the peril. I could 
not obey the summons of demagogy. I could not become the 
instrument of radicalism nor abandon the post at which the 
constitution has placed me. 

I shall remain to defend, with the support of the Senate, 
the conservative interests and to energetically protect the faith- 
ful functionaries who in a difficult moment have not allowed 
themselves to be intimidated by vain threats. 

Frenchmen ! 

I await, with entire confidence, the expression of your 
sentiments. 

After so many trials, France desires stability, order, and 
peace. 

With the aid of God, we shall secure for her these blessings. 
You will hear the words of a soldier who does not serve any 
party, any revolutionary or retrograde passion, and who is 
guided only by love of the fatherland. 

F. Gambetta's Circular. October 7, 1877. Translation, 
The Times (London), October 8, 1877. 

Citizens, — After four long months of suppression of Par- 
liamentary life entirely taken up with the excesses of admin- 
istrative pressure, and the most deplorable proceedings of 
ofiicial candidateship ; after four months, during which the 
French people, by its admirable patience and the daily proofs 
of its sagacity and political maturity, has attracted to our 
young republic the admnration and expressed sympathies of 
civilized governments and peoples, France at last speaks. 
She will say in a few days what she thinks of the men of May 
16, the allies and protectors of the men of the 2d of December, 
of the servants of Henry V, and the agents of the Syllabus 
and the Pope, all sheltered under the electoral patronage of the 
President of the Republic, doiibtless for the better protection 
of republican institutions. 

She will say what she thinks of the personal policy of the 
chief of the state, of the aristocratic and retrogressive pre- 
tensions of the cabinet presided over bj' the Due de Broglie. 

She will say what she thinks of the unjustifiable dissolution 



The 1 6th of May Crisis 647 

of the republican and liberal majority which she had en- 
trusted with the execution of her wishes on the 20th of Feb- 
ruary, 1876, by nearly five million votes. 

She will say what she thinks of the fighting government, 
of the government of vexations directed against vendors and 
hawkers of journals, schoolmasters, office holders, innkeepers, 
the most insignificant employes — in short, the government of 
that miserable war waged against the small ; she will say what 
she thinks of the pretensions on the part of the government to 
impose on her for another three years functionaries of all 
kinds, in flagrant hostility to all the men elected by the coun- 
try; she will say what she thinks of the projects and plots of 
this coalition of monarchists, who prepare for her, at the close 
of three years of intestine conflicts and divisions, in 1880 a 
terrible crisis, perhaps a revolution ; she will say what she 
thinks of that unclean press which can, without incurring pun- 
ishment, appeal to brute force against the men elected by uni- 
versal suffrage, and can insult our valiant and noble army, 
now the elite of the nation and the highest hope of the coun- 
try. 

She will say what she thinks of the policy inaugurated by 
the letter of May 16, which dismissed the republican mmistrj^, 
of the order of the day to the troops at the review of July 2, 
of the presidential message of September 19, of all that 
system of government which the chief of the executive power 
vindicates as a right prior to the constitution. 

France will say, also, that she, favouring equity and democ- 
racy, wishes for the Republic, as the government necessary 
for her restoration and her greatness. She will say that she 
intends to make an end of anarchy and dictatorships, to carry 
out by peaceful measures the French revolution, by develop- 
ing by national education the intelligence of her children, by 
securing by peace at home and abroad general prosperity and 
happiness, by founding on liberty and justice not "Moral 
Order," but "Republican Order." She will say that she intends 
that the state as well as the community, the nation as well as 
the individual, shall be definitely withdrawn from clerical 
rule ; that the priest shall be respected and kept within the 
temple, the schoolmaster within the school, the magistrate 
within the court, and that the public force shall never be 
employed except in tlje service of the law. 



648 The 1 6th of May Crisis 

My profound conviction, based on sure premises, allows 
me to declare without rashness a week before the voting that 
France in spite of ail the maneuvres directed against the free- 
dom of her votes, will repudiate the administrative pressure, 
will scorn the official candidateship and its agents, and will 
thrust far from her royalists, Caesarists, clericals, the knaves 
as well as the violent ; she will condemn dictatorial policy, she 
will leave the chief of the executive power, transformed into 
a plebiscitary candidate, no other alternative but to submit or 
resign. 

As for ourselves, sure of the support of the country thus 
solemnly declared, we shall know how to cause its will to pre- 
vail over the opposition of a powerless and incorrigible min- 
nority. Without passion, without weakness, without vehe- 
mence, we will do our duty. The union of all good French- 
men, liberals, republicans, by conviction or by birth, labourers, 
peasants, burgesses, the world of work and oi thrift, will 
keep us discreet, and will render us invincible for the coun- 
try and the Republic. 

G. iMacMahon's Second Manifesto. October 11, 1877. 
Journal Offxielj October 12, 1877 (Vol. 1877, 6757). 

Marshal de MacMahon, President of the Republic, to the 
French People. 

Frenchmen, 

You are about to vote. 

The violence of the opposition has dispelled all illusions. 
No calumny can any longer impair the truth. 

No, the republican constitution is not in danger. 

No, the government, although it is respectful towards re- 
ligion, does not obey so-called clerical influences, and nothing 
could inveigle it intO' a policy compromising to peace. 

No, you are not threatened with; any return to the abuses of 
the past. 

The struggle is between order and disorder. 

You have already pronounced. 

You do not wish, by hostile elections, to throw the country 
into an unknown future of crises and conflicts. 

You desire tranquility within as well as abroad, the accord 



The i6th of May Crisis 649 

of the public powers and security for industry and business. 

You will vote for the candidates whom I recommend to 
your free suffrage. 

Frenchmen, 

The hour has come. 

Go to the polls without fear. 

Comply with my appeal, and I, placed by the constitution 
at a post which my duty forbids me to abandon, I will answer 
for order and peace. 

H. MacMahon's Message. December 14, 1877. Journal 
OfUciel, December 15, 1877 (Vol. 1877, 8381). 

Versailles, December 14, 1877. 

Messrs. Senators, 

Messrs. Deputies, 

The elections of October 14th have once more affirmed 
the confidence of the country in repubUcan institutions. 

In order to obey parliamentary rules, I have formed a cab- 
inet chosen from within the two chambers and composed of 
men resolved to defend and maintain these institutions by 
the sincere application of the constitutional laws. 

The interest of the country requires that the crisis through 
which we are passing should be abated ; it requires with no less 
force that it should not be renewed. 

The exercise of the right of dissolution is in fact only a 
last method of consulting with a judge from whom there is no 
appeal and could not be erected into a system of government 
I believed that I ought to make use of that right, and I con- 
form to the response of the country. 

The constitution of 1875 has founded a parliamentary re- 
public by establishing my irresponsibilitj^ while it has in- 
stituted collective and personal responsibility for the ministers. 

Thus my respective duties and rights are defined. The 
independence of the ministers is the condition of their re- 
sponsibility. 

These principles, drawn from the constitution, are those 
of my government. 

The end of this crisis will be the point of departure for a 
new era of prosperity. 

All the public authorities will assent in promoting its de- 
velopment. The accord established between the Senate and 



6so Socialism and Third Republic 

the Chamber of Deputies, certain henceforth to reach regu- 
larly the term of its commisssion, will make possible the 
achievement of the great legislative labors which the public 
interest dema.nds. 

The Universal Exposition is about to open ; commerce and 
industry are about to experience a new advance, and we shall 
offer to the world a new testimony of the vitality of our coun- 
try, which has always revived through industry, thrift and its 
deep attachment to the ideas of conservatism, order and lib- 
erty. 

135. Documents upon Socialism and the Third 
Republic. 

The rapid development of the socialist party in size and influ- 
ence has been one of the most important features of French his- 
torj' since the establishment of the Thii'd Republic. The social- 
ists now cast over two million votes, have about sixty-five mem- 
bers of parliament, two posts in the ministry, and in many di- 
rections exert an influence in excess of their numerical strength. 
From the overthrow of the Paris Commune until October, 1879, 
there was no organized socialist party in France. The Marseilles 
CoEgress then started the present socialist movement. It drew up 
resolutions and reports, but no general program. The Paris re- 
gional congress of tlie next year formulated document A, which 
was mainly the work of Karl Marx and Jules Guesde. It still 
remains the program of all the organized French socialists, save 
for comparatively slight amendments made by successive national 
congresses of the socialists. All of the more important of these 
changes may be readily ascertained by comparing it with the pro- 
gram of the "French Socialist Party" adopted at Tours in March, 
1902, as given in Ensor's Modern Socialism, 338-349. Owing to 
differences of opinion among them, chiefly in regard to tactics, the 
socialists were divided into several parties until 1904-5 when a 
unification of all the organized socialistic parties was finally 
brought about. Document B shows the basis upon which this 
union was effected and reflects accurately the general point of 
view of practically all B^-ench socialists, although there are some 
socialist deputies wlio do not recognize the right of the party to 
control their action in parliament. 

Refeeences. Peixotto, French Revolution and Modern French 
Socialism, 278-286 : Robinson and Beard, Modern Europe, II, 173- 
174 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire r/cnvrule, XII, 43-44. 

A. General Program of the Socialist Regional Congress 
of the Centre, July 18-23, 1880. Journal des economistes, 
Fourth series, XI, 407-409. 

The Regional Congress of the Centre considering that, if 
revolution is the sole means for the emancipation of the work- 
ing class, that revolution is possible only with and by an 
organized working class; 



Socialism and Third Republic 651 

Ccnsidering that the first act of that organization is neces- 
sarily the separation of the working class from the bourgeois 
political parties, and that this separation must be effected upon 
political grounds with the aid of that same ballot which has 
created the confusion of the classes politically; 

Considering, finally, that the worst enemies of the revolu- 
tion are those who, while talking at random, refuse to employ 
any of the means which will render it possible; 

Declares that it accepts the electoral program published 
by the newspapers la Revue Socialiste, le Proletaire, I'Egalite 
and la Federation, with the following slight modifications (in- 
dicated in italics) : 

Considering that the emancipation of the productive class 
is that of all human beings without distinction of sex or of 
race; 

That the producers cannot be free except in so far as they 
shall be in possession of the means of production ; 

That there are only two forms under which the means of 
production can belong to them : 

1st. The individual form, which has never existed as an 
actual general condition and which is being eliminated more 
and more by industrial progress ; 

2d. The collectivist form, the material and intellectual 
elements of which are created by the very development of 
capitalistic society; 

Considering that this collective appropriation can proceed 
only from the revolutionary action of the productive class — 
or proletariat — organized as a distinct political party ; 

That such an organization must be sought by all the means 
at the disposal of the proletariat, including therein universal 
suffrage, transformed thereby from an instrument of decep- 
tion, which it has been until now, into an instrument of 
emancipation ; 

The French socialistic workingmen, in giving as the aim 
of their efforts in the economic domain the return to the col- 
lective form of all the means of production, have decided as 
a method of organization and of strife to enter into the elec- 
tions, with the following minimum program : 

A. Political Program. 
1st. Abolition of all laws upon the press, meetings and 
associations, and especially of the law against the Interna- 



652 Socialism and Third Republic 

tional Association of Laboringmen. — Suppression of the pass- 
book, that mise en carte of the working class, and of the 
articles of the Code establishing the inferiority of the work- 
ingman as against the employer; 

2d. Suppression of the religious budget and return to the 
nation "of the properties called mortmain, both movable and 
immovable, belonging to the religious corporations" (decree 
of the Commune of April 2, 1871), including therein all the 
industrial and commercial annexes of these corporations; 

3d. General arming of the people; 

4th. The commune to be the mistress of its own admin- 
istration and police. 

B. Economic Program. 

1st. Cessation of labor for one day per week or legal pro- 
hibition for employers operating inore than six days out of 
seven. — Reduction of the working day to eight hours for 
adults. — Prohibition of the working of children under 14 years 
in private factories ; and, from 14 to 18 years, reduction of 
the working day to six hours; 

2d. Legal minimum of wages, determined each year ac- 
cording to the local price of the commodities ; 

3d. Equality of wages for the workers of the two sexes;. 

4th. Scientific and professional instruction for all the 
children placed for their support under the charge of society, 
represented by the state and the communes. 

5th. Placing under the charge of society the aged and in- 
firm workingmcn; 

6th. Suppression of all interference of employers in the 
administration of workingmen's funds for mutual relief, of 
provision, etc., restored to the exclusive management of the 
workingmen ; 

7th. Responsibility of employers in the matter of acci- 
dents guaranteed by a money deposit paid in by the employer 
and proportioned to the number of workingmen employed and 
the dangers which the industry presents; 

8th. Participation in the [formation of] the special rules 
of the different factories ; suppression of the right usurped by 
employers to impose any penalty whatever upon their work- 
ingmen under the form of fines or of retentions out of their 
wages (decree of the Commune of April 27, 1871) ; 

9th. Revision of all contracts which have alienated public 



Socialism and Third Republic 653 

property (banks, railroads, mines, etc.), and the control of all 
the factories of the state entrusted to the workingmen who 
labor in them; 

loth. Abolition of all indirect taxes and transformation of 
all the direct taxes into a progressive tax upon incomes in 
excess of 3,000 francs. — Suppression of inheritance in the col- 
lateral line and of all- inheritance in the direct line exceed- 
ing 2,000 francs. 

B. Common Declaration of the Socialist Organizations, 
January 13, 1905. L' Internationale oiivriere et socialistc, I, 
96-100. 

The delegates of the French socialist organizations, "Revo- 
lutionary SociaHst Labor Party," "Socialist Party of France," 
"French Socialist Party," "autonomous federations of the 
Bouches-du-Rhone, Brittany, Herault, Somme and Yonne," 
ordered by their respective parties to^ bring about unity upon 
the basis indicated by the International Congress of Amster- 
dam, declare that the action of the unified party ought to be 
guided by the -principles which the international congresses, 
especially the most recent, those of Paris in 1900 and of Am- 
sterdam in 1904, have established. 

They declare that the divergences of views and the inter- 
pretations of different tactics which have existed up to the 
present are due especially to special circumstances in France 
and to the absence of a general organization. 

They affirm their common desire to establish a party of 
class struggle, which, even when it utilizes to the advantage of 
the workingmen, the secondary conflicts of the possessors or 
finds itself accidentally combining its action with that of a po- 
litical party for the defence of the rights and interests of the 
proletariat, remains always a party of fundamental and irre- 
ducible opposition to the totality of the bourgeois class and 
to the state which is its instrument. 

In consequence, the delegates declare that their organiza- 
tions are ready to collaborate immediately in this work of 
the unification of the socialistic forces upon the following 
basis, fixed and accepted by common accord : 

I. The "Socialist Party" is a class party which has for its 
aim to socialize the means of production and exchange, i. e., 
to transform the capitalistic society into a collectivist or com- 



6s4 Leo XIII and Third Republic 

mimist society and has for its method the economic and poHti- 
cal organization of the proletariat. By its aim, by its ideal, 
by the methods which it employs, the "Socialist Party,"' al- 
though striving for the realization of the immediate reforms 
claimed by the working class, is not a party of reform, but a 
part}^ of class struggle and of revolution; 

2. The representatives of the party in parliament form a 
single group, confronting the bourgeois political sections. The 
socialist group in parliament ought to refuse to the govern- 
ment all the means which assure the domination of the 
bourgeoisie and its maintenance in power — ^to refuse in conse- 
quence military credits for colonial conquest, the secret funds, 
and the whole of the budget; 

Even in case of exceptional circumstances, the representa- 
tives cannot bind the party without its consent; 

In parliament, the socialist group ought to consecrate itself 
to the defence and the extension of the political liberties and 
the rights of the workingmen, the pursuit atid realization of 
the reforms which improve the conditions of life and of 
struggle of the working class ; 

The deputies, like all representatives, ought to hold them- 
selves at the disposition of the party for its action in the 
country and its general propaganda for the organization of the 
proletariat and the final aim of socialism. 

The representative is released individually, as each mili- 
tant, from the control of his federation ; 

The totality of the representatives, as a group, are re- 
leased from the control of the central organization. In 
every case, the congress judges in a sovereign manner; 

4. Liberty of discussion is complete in the press for ques- 
tions of doctrine and of method, but for action all sociaHst 
newspapers ought to conform strictly to the decisions of the 
congress as interpreted by the central organization of the 
party ; 



136. Documents upon Leo XIII and the Third 
Republic. 

The attitude of the catholic clergy of France towards the 
Third Republic went through three distinct phases down to about 
1899. (1) From the overthrow of the Second Empire until the 



Leo XIII and Third Republic 655 

deflnitive establishment of the Republic the great majority were 
monarchists. (2) From then until the appearance of these doc- 
uments many of them continued to oppose the Kepublic, although 
some became its supporters, while a large number assumed a neu- 
tral position. (3) After the publication of these documents the 
majority complied with the suggestion of the Pope and accepted 
the Republic. 

Refekences. Coubertin, Evolution of France under the Third 
Repuhlic, Ch. x ; McCarthy, Leo XIII, Ch. xv ; Lavisse and Ram- 
baud, Histoire gencrale, XII, 42-43. 

A. Papal Encyclical. February 16, 1892. Translation, 
The Times (London), February 20, 1892. 

There have been many governments in France dtn'ing this 
century, and each has had its distinctive form — imperial, 
monarchical and republican. Each of these is good so long 
only as it makes for the common well being, and one form 
may be good at one time and another at another. Catholics, 
like all good citizens, have a perfect right to prefer one form 
to another, as none of these forms in itself is opposed to 
christian teaching. The church has always in its dealing' with 
states fully recognized this principle. It was necessary to re- 
call this fact in the development of the present theme. But if 
one comes down to the practical consideration of instances, 
one notes that each state is a special individual result, grow- 
ing out of and modified by its peculiar surroundings, and thus 
obligatory upon the members which compose it, who should 
do nothing to seek to overturn it or change its form. 

The church, therefore, guardian of the truest and loftiest 
conception of political sovereignty, since it derives from God, 
has always reproved subversive doctrines and condemned the 
rebels to legitimate authority, and this, indeed, even when 
those in authority used their power against the church, and 
thus deprived themselves of the most powerful support pos- 
sible and the most effective means of securing obedience to 
the law. The advice of the Prince of Apostles in these mat- 
ters cannot be too widely meditated, nor that of St. Paul. Yet 
it must not be forgotten that no governmental form is defini- 
tive. The church alone has been able, and will continue, to 
preserve its form of government. Founded by him, who was, 
who is, and who shall be, world without end. it has received 
from him since its origin ever}'thing which it needed to pur- 
sue its divine mission across the moving sea of human things. 
Far from there being any need of transforming its essential 



656 Leo XIII and Third Republic 

constitution, it has not even the power of renouncing the 
privileges of true liberty granted to it by Providence in the 
general interest of souls. But in human history crisis follows 
crisis, revolution revolution, and order anarchy, and in these 
circumstances a new form of government may be needful to 
satisfy new wants and conditions. The principle of authority 
never changes, but only the method of its expression or the 
form of its incarnation. Hence ' authority is enduring, far in 
its nature it is imposed for the well-being of all; or, in other 
terms, is considered, as such, to be derived from. God. Con- 
sequently, when a new government is f'^unded, acceptance 
thereof is not only permissible, but a duty. This great duty 
of respect and dependence will always continue in force, since 
it tends to secure the good which, after God, is in society the 
alpha and omega of principles. 

These considerations explain the attitude of the church 
towards the successive governments of France, and such an 
attitude is the safest and surest for all Frenchmen in their 
civil relations with the Republic, which is the existing govern- 
ment of their nation, for all their efforts ought to be directed 
against division and toward the moral uplifting of their 
fatherland. But for some people there is a difficulty here. 
This republic, they say, is animated by sentiments so anti- 
christian that honorable men, and catholics in particular, 
could not conscientiously accept it, and this is a widespread 
cause of dissension. But all this divergence might have been 
avoided but for a regrettable confusion of "constituted 
powers" and "legislation." Indeed, under the most unim- 
peachable form legislation may be detestable, and likewise 
under a very imperfect form there may be excellent legisla- 
tion. History bears ample witness, and the church has always 
recognized this fact. 



B. Papal Brief to the French Cardinals. May 5, 1892. 
Translation, The Times (London), May 7, 1892. 

Great was our consolation on receiving the letter by which, 
in unanimous concert with the whole French episcopate, you 
adhered to our encyclical. . . . This encyclical has already 
done much good, and will, we hope, do more, in spite of the 
attacks to which it has been exposed on the part of impas- 



Leo XIII and Third Republic 657 

sioned men — attacks against which, moreover, we are glad to 
say that it has also found valiant defenders. . . . 

. . . Now, these efforts would become essentially barren 
if the conservative forces were lacking in unity and harmony 
in the pursuit of the ultimate end — namely, the preservation 
of religion; inasmuch as thither should tend every upright 
man, every sincere friend of society. This our encyclical 
amply demonstrated. But the end once defined, the need of 
union in order to attain it once admitted, what will 'be the 
means of insuring this union? This, too, we explained, and 
we desire to restate it that no one may be in doubt as to our 
meaning. One way is to accept without reserve, with that 
perfect loyalty becoming in a Christian, the civil power in 
the form in which de facto it exists. Thus, was accepted in 
France the First Empire on the morrow of a frightful and 
bloody anarchy. Thus were accepted the other successive 
powers, whether monarchic or republican, down to our own 
time. And the reason for this acceptance is that the common 
weal of society makes it pre-eminent over any other interest. 
For it is the creative principle, the conservative element of 
human society, hence it follows that every g'ood citizen ought 
to wish it and procure it at any price. 

Now, from this necessity of insuring the good of all 
springs, as from its own immediate origin, the necessity of a 
civil power which, turned ever towards the supreme end, 
thither guides, wisely and continually, the varied wills of the 
subjects grouped together in its 'hand. When, therefore, in a 
society a constituted and active power exists common interest 
must be allied to that power, and for this reason it should be 
accepted as it is. It is for this reason and with this intent 
that we told the French catholics, "accept the Republic, that is 
to say, the constituted power in your midst, respect it, be sub- 
missive to it as representing the power come from God." But 
there have been some men of different political parties, and 
even sincere catholics, who have not accurately understood 
our words. Yet they were so clear and simple that they could 
scarcely, it would seem, have given occasion for misinterpre- 
tation. Let it be well understood that although the political 
power is always of God it does not follow from this that the 
divine appointment affects always the modes of transmission 



658 Leo XIII and Third Republic 

of that power or the contingent forms it assumes, or the per- 
sons who are the subjects of it. The very variety of these 
modes in different nations proves the human nature of their 
origin. And, still further, human institutions, the best estab- 
lished in right and with as salutary views as one could wish 
in order to give social life a firmer basis, do not always pre- 
serve their vigour conformably to the short insight of human 
wisdom. 

In politics more than anywhere else unexpected changes 
arise. Colossal monarchies collapse or fall to pieces like the 
ancient royalties of the east and the Roman Empire. Dy- 
nasties supplant dynasties like those of the Carlovingians and 
Capetians in France. To the political forms adopted succeed 
other forms, as numerous examples have shown in our cen- 
tury. These changes are far from being always legitimate at 
starting. It is even difficult that they should be. Yet the 
supreme criterion of the commonweal and public tranquility 
impose the acceptance of these new governments established 
de facto in the place of previous governments which de facto 
have ceased to exist. The ordinary rules of the transmission 
of power are accordingly suspended, and, indeed, they may 
even be abolished. However it may be with these extraordi- 
nary transformations in the life of peoples, whose Taws it is 
for God to calculate and their consequences for .men to utilize, 
common honour and conscience demand in every state of 
things a sincere subordination to constituted governments. 
It is required by that supreme, unquestionable, inalienable 
right called reason or social welfare. What, indeed, would be- 
come of honour and conscience if it were allowable for the 
citizen to sacrifice to his personal aims and party connexions 
the blessings of public tranquility? 

After having firmly laid dow.n this truth in our encyclical, 
we drew the distinction between the pohtical authority and 
legislation, and we showed that the acceptance of one in no 
way implied acceptance of the other on points where the legis- 
lator, forgetful of his mission, should set himself in opposition 
to the law of God and of the church. And let all bear in mind 
that to display activity and use influence to induce govern- 
Tnents to change for the better iniquitous laws void of wisdom 
is to give proof of a devotion to the country equally intelli- 
gent and courageous without evincing a shadow of hostility to 



The Law of Associations 659 

the authorities deputed to govern public affairs. Who would 
think of denouncing the christians of the first centuries as ad- 
versaries of the Roman Empire because they did not bow to 
its idolatrous prescriptions, but endeavored to effect their abo- 
lition? On the religious ground thus understood the various 
conservative political parties may and should be agreed. But 
the men who should subordinate everything to the previous tri- 
umph of their respective parties, even were it on the plea that 
it was the fittest for religious defence, would hence be con- 
victed of placing, by a pernicious perversion of ideas, the poli- 
tics which divide before the religion which unites. And it 
would be their fault if our enemies, profiting by their divisions, 
as they have only too much done, finally succeeded in crushing 
them all. 

It has been alleged that, in teaching these doctrines, we 
adopt towards France a conduct other than that which we 
pursue towards Italy, so that we are inconsistent. Yet this is 
not so. Our aim in telling French catholics to accept the con- 
stituted government was and still is merely to safeguard the 
religious interests, which in Italy impose on us the duty of de- 
manding incessantly the full liberty required for our sublime 
function of visible head of the church, appointed for the 
government of souls — a liberty which does not exist where the 
vicar of Jesus Christ is not, at home, a true sovereign, inde- 
pendent of all human sovereignty. What is the conclusion 
from this if it is not that the question which concerns us in 
Italy is also eminently a religious one as far as it is connected 
with the fundamental principle of the liberty of the Church^ 
Hence in our conduct towards various nations we constantly 
make all converge to the same end, religion, and through re- 
ligion the deliverance of society, the welfare of peoples. . . 



137. Law of Associations. 



July 1, 190]. Duvergier, Lois, CI, 260-285. 

The history of the Third Republic has been marked by frequent 
conflicts between the government and the catholic clergy, especial- 
ly over educational matters. The religious orders particularly 
are charged with inculcating in their pupils ideas hostile to the 
Republic. This law was passed for the purpose of reaching the 
orders most suspected of exerting such an influence. The imme- 



66o - The Law of Associations 



diate occasion for its enactment was tlie conspicuous part taken 
by several of tlie orders in the attacks upon the Waldeck-Rousseau 
ministry and even the republican form of government, on ac- 
count of the action of the ministry in paving the way for a revi- 
sion of the sentence of life imprisonment imposed upon Captain 
Dreyfus. 

Refeeknces. Gerard, The French Laiv of Associatiows; Rob- 
inson and Beard, Modern Europe, II, 166-169. 



Title III. 

13. No religious congregation can be formed without an 
authorisation given by a law which shall determine the con- 
ditions of its operation. 

It cannot found any new establishment except in virtue of 
a decree rendered in Council of State. 

The dissolution of the congregation or the closing of any 
establishment can be pronounced by decree rendered in council 
of the ministers. 

14. No one is allowed to manage, either directly or 
through an interposed person, an educational institution of 
any kind whatsoever, nor to give instruction therein if he be- 
longs to a non-authorised religious congregation. 

Contravenors shall be punished with the penalties provided 
by article 8, § 2. In addition, the closing of the institution 
can be pronounced by judgment of condemnation. 

15. Every religious congregation keeps a statement of its 
receipts and expenses ; it prepares annually the financial ac- 
count of the past year and an inventoried statement of its 
real and personal property. 

The complete list of its members, mentioning their pat- 
ronymical names as well as the names under which they are 
designated in the congregation, their nationality, age and place 
of birth, the date of their entrance, must be kept at the resi- 
dence of the congregation. 

It is required to produce, without alteration, upon every 
requisition of the prefect, by himself or by his delegate, the 
accounts, statements and lists above mentioned. 

The representatives or directors of a congregation which 
shall have made false communications or refused to comply 
with the requisitions of the prefect in the cases provided for 
by the present article shall be punished with the penalties pro- 
vided by § 2 of article 8. 



The Law of Associations 66i 

i6. Every congregation formed without authorisation shall 
be declared illicit. 

Those who shall have taken part therein shall be punished 
with the penalties decreed by article 8, § 2. 

The penalty applicable to the founders or administrators 
shall be doubled. 

i8. The congregations existing at the moment of the pro- 
mulgation of the present law, which may not have been au- 
thorised or recognized, within the space of three months, must 
prove that they have made the necessary efforts in order to 
conform to its requirements. 

In default of this proof, they shall ipso facto be reputed 
dissolved. It shall be the same with the congregations to 
which the authorisation shall have been refused. 

Liquidation of the property retained by them, shall take 
place in the courts. The tribunal, at the request of the public 
minister, shall appoint, in order to proceed thereto, a liquida- 
tor who shall have during the entire continuance of the liqui- 
dation all the powers of a sequestration administrator. 

The judgement ordering the liquidation shall be made pub- 
lic in the form prescribed for legal announcements. 

The property and values belonging to members of the con- 
gregation, prior to their entrance into the congregation, or 
which may have fallen to them since, either by succession 
ab intestat in the direct or collateral line, or by donation or 
legacy in the direct line, shall be restored to them. 

The gifts and legacies which may have come to them other- 
wise than in the direct line can likewise be reclaimed, but sub- 
ject to the furnishing of proof by the beneficiaries that they 
have not been the, interposed persons provided for by article 

17. 

The property and values acquired by gratuitous title and 
which may not have been specifically made over by instru- 
ment of gift to a work of charity can be reclaimed by the 
donor, his heirs or interested parties, or by the heirs or in- 
terested parties of the testator, without it being possible to 
oppose to them any prescription for the time elapsed before 
the judgment pronouncing the liquidation. 

If the property or values have been given or bequeathed 
with a view not to favoring the congregationists, but to pro- 



662 Separation of Church and State 

vide for a work of charity, they can be reclaimed on condition 
of providing for the accompHshment of the aim assigned for 
the gift. 

Every action in recaption or reclamation, on penalty of 
foreclosure, must be brought against the liquidator within 
the space of six months, dating from the publication of the ■ 
judgment. 

After both parties have been heard, judgments rendered 
for the liquidator and which have acquired the authority of 
res adjudica are opposable to all interests. 

After the space of six months, the liquidator shall proceed 
to the sale by judicial process of all immovables which: may 
not have been reclaimed or which may not be appropriated to 
a work of charity. 

The product of the sale, as well as all the movable values, 
shall be deposited with the deposit and consignment fund. 

The maintenance of the poor in hospitals, until the com- 
pletion of the liquidation, shall be considered as privileged 
expenses of liquidation. 

If there is no contest or when all the actions brought 
within the prescribed period shall have been adjudicated, the 
net assets are divided among the interested parties. 

The rule of public administration laid down by article 20 
of the present law shall determine, out of the assets remaining 
free after the previous deduction above provided for, the al- 
lowance, in capital or under form of life annuity, which shall 
be assigned to the members of the dissolved congregation who 
may not have assured means of existence or who may prove 
that they have contributed to the acquisition of the values 
put in distribution by their personal labor. 

20. A rule of public administration shall determine the 
proper measures to assure the execution of the present law. 



138. Documents upon the Separation of Church 
and State. 



The recently effected separation of church and state is un- 
doubtedly one of the most important events in the history of the 
Third Republic. Documents A and D show the plan of the gov- 
ernment for bringing about the separation and the principal sup- 



Separation of Church and State 663 

plementary measure adopted in consequence of the refusal of the 
catholic church to form associations of worship for the holding 
of ecclesiastical property. Document B sets forth the position of 
Pius X in opposition to the terms of the law of separation and 
the manner of its enactment, while document E sums up his op- 
position to the additional legislation of the French government 
embodied in document D. Between these two encylicals another 
was issued which specifically forbade catholics to form associations 
of worship such as the law contemplated. Document C was ad- 
dressed to the bishops of Prance and was signed by twenty-three 
laymen distinguished for their loyalty to the catholic church and 
their prominence in the life of the nation. It represents the views 
of many catholics who, prior to the taking of positive action by 
Fius X, held that the catholic church ought to conform to the 
law of separation. 

References. Robinson and Beard, Modern Europe, 11, 166- 
172; Sabatier, DisestabUshment in France; Guerlac, Political Sci- 
ence Quarterly, XXIII, 259-296. 

A. Law of Separation. December g, 1905. Duvergier, 
Lois, CV, 586-625. Translation based upon that of Robert 
Dale in Sabatier, Disestablishment in France, 139-168. 

Title I. Principles. 

1. The Republic assures the liberty of conscience. It 
guarantees the free exercise of religions, subject only to the 
restrictions hereinafter imposed in the interest of the public 
order. 

2. The Republic neither recognizes nor salaries nor subsi- 
dises any religion. In consequence, from the first of January 
which shall follow the promulgation of the present law, all 
expenses relative to the exercise of religions shall be sup- 
pressed in the budgets of the state, departments, and com- 
munes. Nevertheless, the expenses relative to the services of 
the office of chaplain and intended to assure the free exercise 
of religions in the public establishments, such as lycees, col- 
leges, schools, hospitals, asylums, and prisons may be inscribed 
in the budgets. 

The public establishments of religion are suppressed, sub- 
ject to the provisions set forth in article 3. 

Title II. Assignment of Property Pensions. 

3. The establishments whose suppression is enacted by 
article 2, shall continue in operation provisionally, in con- 
formity with the arrangements which at present regulate them, 
until the assignment of their property to the associations pro- 
vided for by title IV and at the latest until the expiration of 
the period stated hereinafter. 



664 Separation of Church and State 

From the promulgation of the present law the agents of 
the administration of the public lands, shall proceed to make 
a descriptive inventory and valuation: ist, of the real and per- 
sonal property of the said establishments; 2d, of the property 
of the state, departments, and comimunes of which the same 
establishments have the enjoyment. 

This double inventory shall be drawn up with a hearing 
allowed to the legal representatives of the ecclesiastical estab- 
lishments or those duly summoned by a notification made in 
the administrative form. 

The agents intrusted with the inventory shall have the 
right to compel the communication of all titles and documents 
needed for their work. 

4. Within the period of one year, dating from the promul- 
gation of the present law, the real and personal property of 
the menses, fabriques, presbyterial councils, consistories, and 
other public establishments of religion, with all the charges 
and obligations which encumber them and with their special 
attribution, shall be transferred by the legal representatives of 
these establishments to the associations which, while conform- 
ing themselves to the rules of general organization of the 
religion of wjiich they propose to assure the exercise, shall be 
legally formed according to the provisions of article 19 for 
the exercise of that religion in the former districts of the 
said establishments. 

5. Those portions of the property designated in the pre- 
ceding article which issue from the state and are not en- 
cumbered by a pious foundation created at a date subsequent 
to the law of 18 Germinal, Year X, shall be returned to the 
state. 

The assignments of property shall not be made until one 
month after the promulgation of the rule of public administra- 
tion provided for by article 43. . . . 

7. The personal or real properties devoted to a charitable 
purpose or any other attribution other than the exercise of 
religious worship, shall be assigned by the legal represent- 
atives of the ecclesiastical establishments to the service of 
public establishments or of public utility whose purpose is in 
conformity with that of the said property. This assign- 
ment must be approved by the prefect of the department in 
which the ecclesiastical establishment is situated. In case of 



Separation of Church and State 665 

non-approbation, the matter shall be decided by decree of the 
Council of State. 

Any action in resumption or claim, must be taken within 
a period of six months, counting from the day on which the 
arrete of the prefect or the decree shall have been inserted in 
the Journal OiEciel. Action can be brought only in regard 
to donations or legacies and only by the donors or their heirs 
in the direct line. 

8. In case of the failure of an ecclesiastica>l establishment 
to proceed to the assignments prescribed above within a 
period of one year, provision for the case shall be made by 
decree. 

At the expiration of the said period, the properties to be 
assigned shall, until their assignment, be placed under seques- 
tration. 

In cases where the properties assigned in virtue of article 
4 and of the first paragraph of the present article shall be 
claimed, either from the beginning or subsequently, by several 
associations formed for the practice of the same religion, the 
assignment which shall have been made thereof by the repre- 
sentatives of the establishment or by decree, may be contested 
before the Council of State in its judicial capacity, which shall 
pronounce thereon after taking into account all the circum- 
stances of the case. 

The claim shall be brought before the Council of State, 
within the period of one year counting from the date of the 
decree or counting from the notification to the prefectorial 
authority, by legal representatives of the public establishments 
of the religion of the assignment made by them. This notifi- 
cation must be m.ade within the period of one month. 

The assignment may be subsequently contested in case of 
division in the association in possession, the creation of a new 
association in consequence of a change in the territory of the 
ecclesiastical district, and in the case where the attributive 
association is in a position to fulfill its purpose. 

II. The ministers of religion who, at the time of the 
promulgation of the present law, shall be more than sixty 
completed years of age and who shall have, during at least 
thirty years, filled ecclesiastical positions remunerated by the 
state, shall receive an annual pension for life equal to three- 
fourths of their salaries. 

Those who shall be more than forty-five years of age and 



666 Separation of Church and State 

who, during at least twenty years, shall have filled eccle- 
siastical positions remunerated by the state shall receive an 
annual pension for life equal to half of their salaries. 

The pensions granted by the two preceding paragraphs 
shall not exceed 1,500 francs. 

In case of the decease of the recipients, these pensions 
shall be reversionary, up to the extent of half of their amount, 
in favor of the widow and the minor orphans left by the 
deceased and, -up to the extent of a quarter, in favor of the 
widow without minor children. When the orphans attain 
their majority, their pensions shall cease ipso facto. 

The ministers of religion at present salaried by the state, 
who shall not be in the conditions above mentioned, shall re- 
ceive, during four years dating from the suppression of the 
budget of religions, an allowance equal to the whole of their 
salaries for the first year, two-thirds for the second year, half 
for the third, a third for the fourth. 

Moreover, in the communes of less than 1,000 inhabitants 
and for the ministers of religion who shall continue to fulfill 
their functions there, the duration of each of the four periods 
indicated above shall be doubled. 

The departments and the communes may, under the same 
conditions as the state, grant to the ministers of religion at 
present salaried by them, pensions or allowances established 
upon the same basis and for an equal duration. 

Reserve is made of the rights acquired in the matter of 
pensions by the application of the preceding legislation, as 
well as the relief granted to the former ministers of the vari- 
ous religions or to their families. 

The law of June 27, 1885, relative to the personnel of the 
suppressed faculties of catholic theology, is applicable to the 
professors, charges de cours, masters of conferences and 
students of the faculties of protestant theology. 

The pensions and allowances provided for above shall be 
non-transferrable and exempt from distraint under the same 
conditions as civil pensions. They shall cease ipso facto in 
case of condemnation to an afflictive or infamous penalty or 
in case of condemnation for one of the offences provided for 
in articles 34 and 35 of the present law. 

The right to obtain or to enjoy a pension or allowance 
shall be suspended by the circumstances which cause the loss 
of the quality of Frenchman, during the period of the loss of 
that quality. 



Separation of Church and State 667 

Claims for pensions must be made within the period of one 
year after the promulgation of the present law, under penalty 
of forfeiture. 

Title III. Ecclesiastical Buildings. 

12. The buildings which have been put at the disposition 
of the nation and which, in virtue of the law of 18 Germinal, 
Year X, serve for the public exercise of religions or the hous- 
ing of their ministers (cathedrals, churches, chapels, temples, 
synagogues, archbishops' and bishops' palaces, presbyteries, 
seminaries) as well as their out-buildings and the furnishings 
which equipped them at the time when the said buildings 
were turned over to the religions, are and shall remain the 
properties of the state, departments and communes. 

For these buildings, as for those of a date subsequent to 
the law of 18 Germinal, Year X, of which the state, the de- 
partments and the communes are the proprietors, including 
therein the faculties of protestant theology, proceedings shall 
be in conformity with the provisions of the following articles. 

13. The buildings in use for the public exercise of religion, 
as well as the furnishings for their equipment, shall be left 
gratuitously at the disposition of the public establishments of 
religion, then to the associations called upon to replace them 
to which the property of these establistiments shall have been 
assigned by application of the provisions of title II. 

The cessation of this possession, and, if there is occasion, 
its transfer shall be pronounced by decree, subject to recourse 
to the Council of State in its judicial capacity: ist, if the 
beneficiary association is dissolved ; 2d. if, apart from cases of 
superior force, the religion ceases to be celebrated during 
more than six consecutive months ; 3d, if the preservation of 
the building or that of the furnishings listed in virtue of the 
law of 1887 and of article 16 of the present law is compro- 
mised by insufficiency of maintenance, and after demand in 
due form of law, notified to the municipal council or. in its 
default, to the prefect; 5th, if the association ceases to fulfill 
its purpose or if the buildings are diverted from their ap- 
pointed use ; 5th, if it does not meet the obligations of article 
6 or of the last paragraph of the present article, or the pro- 
visions relative to the historic monuments. 

The secularisation of these buildings in the case provided 
for above, may be pronounced by decree rendered in the 



668 Separation of Church and State 

Council of State. Apart from these cases it can be done only 
by a law. 

The buildings hitherto set apart for religious worship and 
in which the ceremonies of religion shall not have been ob- 
served during the period of one year prior to the present law, 
as well as those which shall not be claimed by an association 
of worship within the period of two years after its promulga- 
tion may be secularised by decree. 

The same shall be done for the buildings whose seculari- 
sation shall have been claimed prior to June i, 1905. 

The public establishments of religion, then the beneficiary 
associations shall be responsible for the repairs of every sort, 
as well as the expense of insurance and other charges falling 
upon the buildings and the furnishings for their equipment. 

14. The archbishops' and bishops' palaces, presbyteries 
and their appurtenances, grand seminaries and faculties of 
protestant theology shall be left gratuitously at the disposition 
of the public establishments of religion, then of the associa- 
tions provided for by article 13, to wit: 

The archbishops' and bishops' palaces during a period of 
two years ; the presbyteries in the communes in which the 
minister of religion shall reside, the grand seminaries and 
faculties of protestant theology during five years, counting 
from the date of the promulgation of the present law.' 

Title IV. Of the Associations for the Exercise of 
Religions. 

18. The associations formed in order to provide for the 
cost, maintenance, and the public exercise of a religion must 
be constituted in conformity with article 5 and according to 
title I of the law of July i, 1901. They shall be, moreover, 
subject to the provisions of the present law. 

19. These associations must have for their exclusive pur- 
pose the exercise of a religion and be composed at least: 

In communes of less than 1,000 inhabitants, of seven 
persons; 

In communes of 1,000 to 20,000 inhabitants, of fifteen per- 
sons; 

In communes of which the number of the inhabitants is 
more than 20,000, of twenty-five adult persons, domiciled or 
residing in the religious district. 



Separation of Church and State 669 

Any of their members may withdraw at any time, after 
payment of the subscriptions due and those of the current 
year, notwithstanding any clause to the contrary. 

Notwithstanding any clause to the contrary in the statutes, 
the acts of financial management and legal administration 
carried on by the directors or administrators shall be each 
year at least, presented to the control of the general assembly 
of the members of the association and submitted to its ap- 
probation. 

The associations may receive, besides the subscriptions 
provided for by article 6 of the law of July i, 1901, the 
product of donations and collections for the expense of the 
religion and receive payments : for ceremonies and religious 
services even by foundation; for the letting of benches and 
seats; for the furnishing of objects for funeral services in 
religious buildings and for the decoration of these buildings. 

They may without giving occasion to the collection of 
dues turn over the surplus of their receipts to other associa- 
tions constituted for the same purpose. 

They shall not, under any form whatsoever, receive sub- 
ventions from the state, departments, or communes. The 
sums allowed for repairs to registered monuments are not 
considered as subventions. 

22. The associations and unions can employ their available 
resources for the formation of a reserve fund sufficient to as- 
sure the expenses and maintenance of the religion and not 
susceptible in any case of receiving any other destination ; 
the amount of this reserve shall never exceed a legal sum, 
fof unions and associations having more than five thousand 
francs (S,ooo francs) of income, at three times, and for the 
other associations at six times the annual average of the sums 
expended by each of them during the last five years. 

Title V. Regulation of Worship. 

25. Meetings for the celebration of worship held in places 
beneficent influence over the people, and by paralyzing her 
tion are public They are released from the formalities of 
article 8 of the law of June 30, 1881, but remain placed under 
the surveillance of the authorities in the interest of public 
order. They cannot take place except after a declaration 



670 ^ - Separation of Church and State 

made in the forms of article 2 of the same law and setting 
forth the place in which they will be held. 

A single declaration suffices for the whole of the regular, 
periodical, or occasional meetings which shall occur within the 
year. 

B. Papal Encyclical of Febuary 11, 1906. American Cath- 
olic Quarterly Reviezv, XXXI, 571-580. Translation based 
upon that of American Catholic Quarterly Review, XXXT, 
209-220. 

To the archbishops, bishops, clergy and people of France. 

Our soul is full of sorrowful solicitude and our heart 
overflows with g'rief when our thoughts dwell upon you. How, 
indeed, could it be otherwise, immediately after the promulga- 
tion of that law which by sundering violently the old ties that 
linked your nation with the Apostolic See, creates for the 
catholic church in France a situation unworthy of her and 
ever to be lamented? That is, beyond question, an event of 
the gravest iinport, and one that must be deplored by all right- 
minded men, for it is as disastrous to society as it is to 
religion; but it is an event which can have surprised nobody 
who has paid any attention to the religious policy followed in 
France of late years. For you, venerable brethren, it will 
certainly have been nothing new or strange, witnesses as you 
have been of the many dreadful blows aimed from time to 
time at religion by the public authority. You have seen the 
sanctity and inviolability of christian marriage outraged by 
legislative acts in formal contradiction with them ; the schools 
and hospitals laicised ; clerics torn from their studies and 
from ecclesiastical discipline to he subjected to military serv- 
ice; the religious orders dispersed and despoiled and their 
members for the most part reduced to the last stage of desti- 
tution. Other legal measures which you all know have fol- 
lowed — the law ordaining public prayers at the beginning of 
each parliamentary session and of the assizes has been abol- 
ished; the signs of mourning traditionally observed on board 
the ships on Good Friday suppressed ; the religious char- 
acter effaced from the judicial oath; all actions and em- 
blems serving in any way to recall the idea of religion ban- 



Separation of Church and State ' 671 

ished from the courts, the schools, the army, the navy, and, 
in a word, from all public establishments. These measures 
and others still which, one after another, really separated 
the church from the state, were but so many steps designedly 
made to arrive at complete and official separation, as the 
authors of them have publicly and frequently admitted. 

On the other hand, the Holy See has spared absolutely 
no means to avert this great calamity. . . . 

That the state ought to be separated from the church is a 
thesis absolutely false, a most pernicious error. Based as it 
is on the principle that the state must not recognize any re- 
ligious cult, it is in the first place guilty of a great injustice to 
God ; for the creator of man is also the founder of human 
societies, and preserves their existence as he preserves our 
own. We owe him, therefore, not only a private, but public 
and social worship to honor him. Besides, it is an obvious 
denial of the supernatural order. It limits the action of the 
state to the pursuit of public prosperity during this life only, 
which is but the proximate object of political societies; and it 
occupies itself in no fashion (on the plea that this is foreign to 
it) with their ultimate object, which is man's eternal happiness 
after this short life shall have run its course. But as the 
present order of things is temporary and subordinated to the 
attainment of man's supreme and absolute welfare, it follows 
that the civil power should not only place no obstacle in the 
v/ay of this object, but should aid us in effecting it. It also 
upsets the order providentially established by God in the 
world, which demands an harmonious agreement between the 
two societies, the civil and the religious, although each ex- 
ercises its authority in its own sphere. It follows necessarily 
that there are many things belonging to them in common in 
which both societies must have relations with one another. 
Remove the agreement between church and state, and the 
result will be that from these common matters will spring 
the seeds of dispute which will be come acute on both sides; 
it will become more difficult to see where the truth lies and 
great confusion is certain to arise. Finally, it inflicts great 
injury on society itself, for it cannot either prosper or last 
long when due place is not left for religion, which is the 
supreme rule and sovereign mistress. Hence the Roman pon- 
tiffs have never ceased, as circumstances required, to refute 
and condemn the doctrine of the separation of church and 



672 Separation of Church and State 

state. Our illustrious predeccessor, Leo XIII, especially, has 
frequently and splendidly expounded Catholic teaching on 
the relations which should subsist between the two soci- 
eties. . . . 

And the ties that consecrated this union [between France 
and the papacy] should have been doubly inviolable from the 
fact, that they were sanctioned by oath-bound treaties. The 
concordat entered upon by the sovereign pontiff and the 
French government was, like all treaties of the same kind, 
a bilateral contract binding on both parties to it. The Roman 
pontiff on the one side and the head of the French nation 
on the other solemnly stipulated both for themselves and their 
successors to maintain inviolate the pact they signed. Hence 
the same rule applied to the concordat as to all international 
treaties, viz., the law of nations, which prescribes that it 
could not be in any way annulled by one alone of the con- 
tracting parties. The Holy See has always observed with 
scrupulous fidelity- the engagements it has made, and it has 
always required the same fidelity from the state. This is a 
truth which no impartial judge can deny, yet today the state, 
by its sole authority, abrogates the solemn pact it signed. Thus 
it violates its sworn promise. To break with the church, to 
free itself from her friendship, it has stopped at nothing, and 
has not hesitated to outrage the apostolic see by this violation 
of the law of nations, and to disturb the social and political 
order itself — for the reciprocal security of nations in their re- 
lations with one another depends mainly on the inviolable 
fidelity and the sacred respect with which they observe their 
treaties. 

The extent of the injury inflicted upon the apostolic see 
by the unilateral abrogation of the concordat is notably ag- 
gravated by -the manner in which the state has effected this ab- 
rogation. It is a principle admitted without controversy, and 
universally observed by all nations, that the breaking of a 
treaty should be previously and regularly notified in a clear 
and explicit manner to the other contracting party by the one 
which intends to put an end to the treaty. Yet not only has 
no notification of this kind been made to the Holy See, but 
no indication whatever on the subject has been conveyed 
to it. ... 

If we now proceed to examine in itself the law that has 
just beeen promulgated, we find therein fresh reason for 



Separation of Church and State 673 

protesting still more energetically. When the state broke the 
bonds of the concordat and separated itself from the church 
it ought as a natural consequence, to have left her her in- 
dependence and allowed her to enjoy peacefully that liberty 
granted by the common law which it pretended to assign to 
her. Nothing of the kind has been done. We find in the 
law many exceptional and odiously restrictive provisions, the 
effect of which is to place the church under the domination of 
the civil power. It has been a source of bitter grief to us 
to see the state thus encroach on matters which are within the 
exclusive jurisdiction of the church; and we bewail this all 
the more for the reason that the state, dead to all sense of 
equity and justice, has thereby created' for the Church of 
France a situation grievous, crushing and oppressive of her 
most sacred rights. 

For the provisions of the new law are contrary to the 
constitution on which the church was founded by Jesus Christ. 
The scripture teaches us, and the traditions of the fathers 
confirm the teaching, that the church is the mystical body of 
Christ, ruled by pastors and doctors — a society of men con- 
taining within its own fold, chiefs who have full and perfect 
powers for ruling, teaching and judging. It follows that 
the church is essentially an unequal society, that is, a society 
comprising two categories of persons, the pastors and the 
flock, those who occupy a rank in the different degrees of 
the hierarchy and the multitude of the faithful. So distinct 
are these categories that with the hierarchy alone rests the nec- 
essary right and authority for promoting the end of that so- 
ciety and directing all its members toward that end, the one 
duty of the multitude is to allow themselves to be led, and, 
like a docile flock, to follow the pastors .... The 
law of separation, in opposition to these principles, assigns the 
administration and supervision of public worship not to the 
hierarchical body divinely instituted by our Saviour, but to 
an association formed of laymen. To this association it 
assigns a special form and a juridical personality, and con- 
siders it alone as having rights and responsibilities in the eyes 
of the law in all matters appertaining to religious wor.ship. 
It is this association which is to have the use of the churches 
and sacred edifices, which is to possess ecclesiastical property, 
real and personal, which is to haA^e at its disposition (though 
only for a time) the residences of the bishops and priests and 



674 Separation of Church and State 

the seminaries, which is to administer the property, regulate 
collections and receive the alms and legacies destined for re- 
ligious worship. As for the hierarchical body of pastors, 
the law is completely silent. And if it does prescribe that 
the associations of worship are to be constituted in harmony 
with the general rules of organization of the cult whose ex- 
istence they are designed to assure, it is none the less true 
that care has been taken to declare that in all disputes which 
may arise relative to their property, the Council of State is 
the only competent tribunal. These associations of worship 
are therefore placed in such a state of dependence on the civil 
authority that the ecclesiastical authority will clearly have 
no power over them. It is obvious at a glance that all these 
provisions seriously violate the rights of the church, and are 
in opposition to her divine constitution. Moreover, the law 
en these points is not set forth in clear and precise terms, 
but is left so vague and so open to arbitrary decisions that 
its mere interpretation is well calculated to be productive 
of the greatest trouble. 

Besides, nothing' more hostile to the liberty of the church 
than this law could well be conceived. For, with the ex- 
istence of the association of worship, the law of separation 
hinders the pastors from exercising the plentitude of their 
authority and of their office over the faithful, when it at- 
tributes to the Council of State supreme jurisdiction over 
these associations and subjects them to a whole series of 
prescriptions not contained in the common law, rendering 
their formation difficult and their continued existence more 
difficult still ; when, after proclaiming the liberty of public 
worship, it proceeds to restrict its exercise by numerous ex- 
ceptions; when it deprives the church of the internal regula- 
tion of the churches in order to invest the state with this 
function ; when it thwarts the preaching of catholic faith 
and morals and sets up a severe and exceptional penal code 
for clerics ; when it sanctions all these provisions and many 
others of the same kind in whicb scope is left to arbitrary 
ruling does it not place the church in a position of humili- 
ating subjection, and under the pretext of preserving public 
order, deprive peaceable citizens, who still constitute the 
vast majority in France, of the sacred right of practicing 
their religion? Hence it is not merely by restricting the 
exercise of worship (to which the law of separation falsely 



Separation of Church and State 675 

reduces the essence of religion) that the state injures the 
church, but by putting obstacles to her influence, always a 
beneficent influence over the people, and by paralyzing her 
activity in a thousand different ways. Thus, for instance, the 
state has not been satisfied with depriving the church of' the 
religious orders, those precious auxiliaries of hers in her 
sacred mission, in teaching and education, in charitable works, 
but it must also deprive her of the resources which consti- 
tute the human means necessary for her existence and the 
accomphshment of her mission. 

In addition to the wrongs and injuries to which we have 
so far referred, the law of separation also violates and 
tramples under foot the rig'hts of property of the church. 
In defiance of all justice, it despoils the church of a great 
portion of a patrimony which belongs to her by titles as 
numerous as they are sacred ; it suppresses and annuls all 
the pious foundations consecrated with perfect legality, to 
divine worship and to suffrages for the dead. The resources 
furnished by catholic liberality for the maintenance of catholic 
schools and the working of various charitable institutions 
connected with religion, have been transferred to lay asso- 
ciations in which it would be idle to seek for a vestige of 
religion. In this it violates not only the rights of the church, 
but the formal and explicit purpose of the donors and testa- 
tors. It is also a subject of keen grief to us that the law, m 
contempt of all right, proclaims as property of the state, 
departments, or communes the ecclesiastical edifices dating 
from before the concordat. True, the law concedes the 
gratuitous use of them, for an indefinite period, to the asso- 
ciations of worship, but it surrounds the concession with so 
many and so serious reserves that in reality it leaves to the 
public powers the full disposition of them. Moreover, we 
entertain the greatest fears for the sanctity of those temples, 
the august refuges of the divine majesty, and endeared by 
a thousand memories of the piety of the French people. For 
they are certainly in danger of profanation if they fall into 
the hands of laymen. 

When the law, by the suppression of the budget of public 
worship, exonerates the state from the obligation of pro- 
viding for the expenses of worship, it violates an engagement 
contracted in a diplomatic convention, and at the same time 
commits a great injustice. On this point there cannot be the 



676 Separation of Church and State 

slightest doubt, for the documents of history offer the clear- 
est confirmation of it. When the French government assumed 
in the concordat the obligation of supplying the clergy 
with a revenue sufficient for their decent subsistence and the 
requirements of public worship, the concession was not a 
merely gratuitous one — it was an obHgation assumed by the 
state to make restitution, at least in part, to the church whose 
property had been confiscated during the first revolution. On 
the other hand, when the Roman pontiff, in this same concor- 
dat, bound himself and his successors, for the sake of peace, 
not to disturb the possessors of property thus taken from 
the church, he did so only on one condition — ^that the French 
government would bind itself in perpetuity to endow the 
clergy suitably and to provide for the expenses of divine 
worship. 

Finally, there is another point on which we cannot be 
silent. Besides the injury it inflicts on the interests of the 
church, the new law is destined to be most disastrous to 
your country. For there can be no doubt but that it lam- 
entably destroys union and concord. . . . 

Signed, Pius X, Pope. 

C. Petition of the Twenty-Three. March, 1906. Jour;':al 
des debats. (Edition hebdomadaire), March 30, igo6. 

At the moment in which for the first time for years past, 
and one might say for centuries past, the bishops of France 
are about to meet in full assembly, some catholics whose sig- 
natures — they are at least in hope — will suffice to guarantee to 
you their true feelings, have thought that their liberty would 
not be offensive to you, if they submitted to you, in a letter ab- 
solutely confidential, some remarks upon a point of the law 
which is about tO' be the object of your deliberations. 

Being, indeed, convinced and faithful catholics, we cannot 
have, monseigneur, upon the character and spirit of that law 
any other opinion than that which yesterday the sovereign 
pontiff expressed in his eloquent encyclical of February li. 
But what will be the practical consequences of that solemn 
condemnation? You are presently to meet in order to tell 
us and it is the hope that you will not separate without having 
told it to us which dictates to us this letter. 



Separation of Church and State 677 

The question which preoccupies us then — because in fact 
it involves the organization even of the catholic church in 
France — is to knov^f if the Holy See will authorise the formation 
of the "associations of worship." It is not to us that it belongs 
to pronounce upon the merits of the question, and therefore, 
we refrain from that. Bpt, in the discussions which have 
taken place during the last three months on that subject, we 
could not, monseigneur, but be struck by the fact, that the 
objections which are urged against that kind of associations 
relate almost entirely to the original text of the law of 
separation, but not to the definitive text, that which finally 
issued from the deliberations of the chamber and which stipu- 
lates expressly that they must be in conformity "with the 
rules of general organization of the religion of which they 
propose to assure the exercise." That amounts to saying — 
and the reporter of the law, as well as the minister of public 
worship, pressed by the eloquence of M. Alexander Ribot, 
formally recognized it — that a catholic association of worship 
will be legally that of which the members shall be "' in com- 
munion" with their cure, that ciire with his bishop, and the 
bishop himself with the sovereign pontiff. 

Will the Council of State, in the administrative regulation 
which it prepares, attempt to go back of this point? There 
is no doubt such a thing may be feared, and it is well under- 
stood, monseigneur, that in such a case the present letter 
will have no further object. But while waiting, and in the 
conditions which are created for us by article 4, to whom 
does it belong, if not to the Holy See, informed by you upon 
the condition of the church of state, to say what are "the 
rules of general organization of the catholic religion ?" and 
how within the limits imposed by the law, you look upon 
the organization of associations of worship? It belongs to 
you, bishops of France, to say how they shall be composed; 
of how many members, according to the case; and chosen or 
appointed under what conditions. 

The state will ask of them account only of their financial 
management, and, in truth, we avow it. it is a singular restric- 
tion of their liberty. But in all that which affects the exercise 
of religion, it is you, monseigneur, permit Ub to insist, and 
you alone, who are called upon to determine the competence 
of the associations of worship, and it is you who will say 
what are the rights which you acknowledge in them. It is 



678 Separation of Church and State 

you who will delegate to them, from your power over tem- 
poralities, that which you wish to delegate to them, and 
nothing except that which you wish. It is you who will 
regulate the mode of their operation, and their action will 
be exercised only within the limits which you will have de- 
cided. And we do not say that these limits are not difficult 
to trace, hut you will succeed in it, we have confidence, and 
we believe that in succeeding there you will have rendered 
a not-to-be-forgotten service to France and to religion itself. 
For that which disturbs us almost more than to know 
"whether associations of worship will be constituted," as pro- 
vided by the law of separation, is, monseigneur, and we say it 
boldly, to know "what will be done and how the church of 
France will be organized" apart from the associations of wor- 
ship. What will happen in fact if we do not constitute associ- 
ations of worship ? 

But, for the moment (not being prevented by the law of 
separation from believing that which we wish, nor from 
practicing that which we believe ; the hierarchy existing in its 
entirety and the right of our bishops to communicate with 
Rome being exercised freely ; the religious edifices remainmg 
at the disposition of associations formed and directed by the 
bishop), we think there is need to not neglect any legal 
means to bring about the abrogation or modification of a law 
of which we protest once again that we believe all that the sov- 
ereign pontiff has solemnly said of it, but we believe also, 
that in view of the attainment even of that aim, we ought to 
take advantage however limited they may be, of all the pos- 
sibilities of organization which that law leaves us, and by 
so doing, we shall work in the interest of the fatherland and 
of religion. 



D. Law for the Public Exercise of Religious Worship. 
Janury 2, 1907. Journal Officiel, January 2 and 3, 1907. 

I. From the promulgation of the present law, the state, 
the departments and the communes shall receive by definitive 
title the free disposal of the archepiscopal houses, episcopal 
houses, presbyteries, and seminaries which are their property 
and of which the enjoyment has not been claimed by an asso- 



Separation of Church and State 679 

ciation constituted within the year whicli followed the pro- 
mulgation of the law of December 9, 190S, in conformity with 
the provisions of the said law. 

The lodging allowances incumbent upon communes in de- 
fault of a presbytery shall also cease, if associations of that 
nature have not been established. 

2. The property of the ecclesiastical establishments which 
has not been claimed by associations constituted within the 
year which followed the promulgation of the law of December 
9, 1905, in conformity with the provisions of the said law. 
shall be turned over, from the promulgation of the present 
law, by definitive title, to the communal establishments for 
charity or beneficence under the conditions fixed by article 9, 
paragraph i, of the said law, without prejudice to the attri- 
butions to be effected through applications of articles 7 and 8, 
in that which concerns property encumbered by a foreign 
designation for the exercise of religious worship. 

3. At the expiration of a period of one month from the 
promulgation of the present law, the allowances granted by 
the application of article 11 of the law of December 9, 1905. 
to ministers of religion who shall continue to exercise their 
functions in the ecclesiastical circumscriptions in which the 
conditions prescribed by the law of December 9, 1905, or by 
the present law for the exercise of public worship have not 
been fulfilled, after the infraction has been duly attested, shall 
be suppressed ipso facto. 

4. Independently of the associations subject to the. pro- 
visions of title IV. of the law of December 9, 1905, the public 
exercise of a religious worship can be assured either by me-ins 
of associations regulated by the law of July i, 1901, articles 
I, 2, 3, 4, 5. 6, 7, 8, 9, 12 and 17 or by way of meetings held 
under individual initiative in virtue of the law of June 30, 
1881, and according to the provisions of article 5 of the law 
of December 9, 1905. 

5. In default of associations of worship, the buildings de- 
voted to the exercise cf religious wrrship. ?s well as the fur- 
niture equipping them, shall continue, subject to setting aside 
in the cases provided by fhe law of December 9, 1905. to be 
left at the disposal of the faithful and the ministers of re- 
ligion for the observance of their religion. 



68o Separation of Church and State 

The gratuitous enjoyment thereof shall be granted either 
to the associations of worship constituted in conformity with 
articles i8 and ig of the law of December 9, 1505, or to asso- 
ciations formed in virtue of the previously cited provisions 
of the law of July i, 1901, to assure the continuation of the 
public exercise of religious worship, or to ministers of re- 
ligion whose names shall be set forth in the declarations pre- 
scribed by article 25 of the law of December 9, 1905. 

6. The provisions of the law of December 9, 1905, and 
of the decrees providing rules of public administration for its 
execution are maintained in everything not contrary to the 
present law. 

E. Papal Encyclical, January 6, 1907. Translation, 
American Catholic Quarterly Review, xxxii, 138-144. 

To our venerable brethren the cardinals, archbishops, and 
bishops of France and to the French clergy and people . . . 

Once again the serious events which have been precipitated 
in your noble country compel us to write to the church of 
France to sustain her in her trials, and to comfort her in 
her sorrow. . 

. . . Fair-minded men, even though not of our faith, 
recognize that if there is a strug'gle on the question of re- 
ligion in your beloved country, it is not because the church 
was the first to unfurl the flag, but because war was declared 
against her ! ... 

There remains for consideration the law recently voted by 
the two chambers. 

, From the point of view of ecclesiastical property, this law 
is a law of spoliation and confiscation, and it has completed 
the stripping of the church. . . . From the point of view 
ot the exercise of worship, this law has organized anarchy; 
it is the consecration of uncertainty and caprice. 
Public worship will be in as many diverse situations as there 
are parishes in France ; in each parish the priest will be at the 
discretion of the municipal authority. And thus an opening 
for conflict has been organized from one end of the country to 
the other. . 

It is easy to see, venerable brethren and beloved sons, from 
what we have just recalled to you that this law is an aggra- 
vation of the law of separation, and we cannot therefore do 
otherwise than condemn it. 



Separation of Church and State 68 1 

The vague and ambiguous wording of some of its articles 
places the end pursued by our enemies in a new light. Their 
object is, as we have already pointed out, the destruction 
of the church and the dechristianizing of France, but with- 
out people's attending to it or even noticing it. . . . 

As for ourselves, we have accomplished our 
duty, as every other Roman pontiff would have done. . 
We could not have acted otherwise without trampling under 
foot our conscience, without being false to the oath which we 
took on mounting the chair of Peter, and without violating 
the catholic hierarchy, the foundation given to the church 
by our Saviour Jesus Christ. We await, then, without fear 
the verdict of history. ... 

Signed, Pius X, Pope. 



The End. 



INDEX 



The numbers of the documents are indicated by bold faced 
type, the pages by Roman. 



Abdications, first of Napoleon, 
90D, 446; of Charles X, 104 
G, &04; of Francis II, 78D, 
403; second of Napoleon, 90 
P, 45'0. 

Act, additional, the, 98, 472; of 
the Senate, 90B, 444; organic, 
upon education, 38C, 170; or- 
ganic upon religion, 291, 140. 

Address to the throne, 117A, 
575. 

Address, Bordeaux, the, 114C, 
558; of the Commune of 
Marseilles, 22A, 111; of the 
Legislative Body to Napole- 
on, 88, 437; of the Federes 
at Paris, 22B, 113; of the 
Jacobin club, 26, 127; of the 
municipality of Vedennes, 
114B, 557; of the Paris Sec- 
tions, 22C, 114; (See also 
Message, .Speech.) 

Administrative system, law, 
60, 283. 

Alliance, See Allies, Treaties. 

Allies, declaration against Na- 
poleon, 96, 468; declaration 
of Frankfort, 87, 435; procla- 
mation of, 90A, 443; treaty 
of, against France, 100, 482. 

Amendments, of 1884, the, 133 
E, 639; proposed Laboulaye, 
the, 132C; 633; upon the seat 
of government, 133D, 639; 
Wallon, the, 132D, 633. 

Amiens, treaty, 63, 294. 

Annexations of 1809-1810. 84, 
424-436. 

Appeal, election, 111F, 542. 



April, petition of 16th of, 108, 

521. 
Army, proclamation to, 75A, 
378; proclamation to, 111C, 
540; reorganization, law, 128, 
618. 
Articles, organic, for the Cath- 
olic church, 64B, 299; organ- 
ic, for the Protestant sects, 
64D, 306. 
Assembly, extraordinary, 95, 

467. 
Assignats, decree, 47, 203. 
Assistance and fratei-nity, 28A, 

130. 
Associations, law, 137, 659. 
August. See Fourth of August. 
Austria. 

Armistice with France (Vil- 

lafranca), 116E, 572. 
Declaration of war against, 

19, 103. 
Treaties with France, Cam- 
po Formio, 55, 261; Lune- 
ville, 62, 290; Pressburg, 
74, 374, Vienna, 85; 430; 
Zurich, 116F, 573. 
Ultimatum to Sardinia, 116 
A, 567. 



Basle, treaty, 48A, 206. 
Benedetti, proposed treaty. 120. 

591. 
Berlin, decree, 77B, 385. 
Body guard, the King's. 20B, 

106. 
Bookselling, 86, 433. 
Brief, papal, 136B, 65G. 



INDEX 



Bordeaux, address, 114C, 558. 

British. See Great Britain. 

Brumaire, decree, 57, 26S. 

Brunswielv, Duke of. Manifes- 
to, 23j lis. 

Budget, senatus-consultum on, 
117C, 577. 



Calendar, Republican, 44, 191. 

Campo Formio, treaty, 55, 261. 

Casiinir-Perier, proposal, 132A, 
631. 

Catechism, Imperial, 65B, 312. 

Catholic church, organic ar- 
ticles for, 64B, 299. 

Chamber of Deputies, declara- 
tion, 104H, 505; King's 
speech to, 103A, 491; proc- 
lamation of, 104E, 502; reply 
to Charles X, 103B, 492. 

Charter, Constitutional, 93, 457. 

Chaumont, treaty, 89, 439. 

Church and state, separation 
of, 138, 662-81. 

Circulars, diplomatic, upon 
Fi-anco-Prussian war, 123, 
596-603; Gambetta's, 134F, 
646; letter of Louis XVI to 
foreign caurts, 10, 39; of 
keeper of seals, 102, 489; 
Padua, the, 13, 55; Persigny, 
the, 118, 586. 

Civil constitution of the cler- 
gy, 6C, 16. 

Church, buildings, 29H, 140; 
Constituent Assembly and, 
6, 15-23; lands, 6A, 15. 

Clergy. 

Civil constitution of, 6C, 16. 
Dangerous, decree upon, 29C, 

135. 
Non-juring decree (rejected) 
upon, 17B, 99; decree up- 
on, 29B, 135; decree upon 
deportation of, 20A, 104. 
Oath of, 6D, 22. 
Clei'ical oath, 6D, 22. 
Committees, Revolutionary, 33, 
158; Public Safety, 35, 159. 
Communal law, 127A, 612. 



Commune of Marseilles, 22A, 

111. 
Commune of Paris, declaration 

of, 126, 608. 
Concordat, the, 64A, 296. 
Confederation of the Rhine, 
78A, 397; declaration of, 78C, 
401. 
Congress of Paris, 115, 562. 
Constituent Assembly, decree 
abolishing nobility, 8, 33; de- 
cree concerning King, 12P, 
53 and 12H, 64; decree cre- 
ating, 1, 1; decree for main- 
taining public order, 12B, 51; 
decree on measures of, first. 
12C, 51; decree on measures 
of, second, 12D, 52; decree 
on oath of allegiance, 12E, 
52; decree of 3C, 10; decree 
reorganizing judiciary, 9, 34; 
decree reorganizing local 
government, 7, 24; docu- 
ments upon, 6, 15; protest 
of the Right, 12G, 53. 
Constitution. 
Constitutional laws of 1875 
and amendments, 133, 633- 
639. 
Declaration upon, 27A, 128. 
King's acceptance of, 16, 96. 
(See also Constitutions of 
France.) 
Constitutions of France, of 
1791, 15, 58; of 1793 (year I), 
39, 171; of 1795 (year III), 
50, 212; of 1799 (year VIII), 
58, 270; of 1802 (year X), se- 
natus-consultum of Aug. 4, 
1802, 66E, 326; 1804 (year 
XII), senatus-consultum of 
May IS, 1804, 71, 343; of 1814, 
constitutional charter of 
1S14, 93, 457; of 1815, the Act 
additional, 98, 472; of 1830, 
105, 507; of 1848, 110, 522; of 
1852, 112, 543; of 1870, sen- 
atus-consultum of May 21, 
1870, 117H, 581; of 1875, con- 
stitutional laws and amend- 
ments, 133, 633. 



INDEX 



685 



Constitutional laws of 1S75, 

133A-C, 633-639. 
Constitutional statute upon 

Italy, 72A, 368. 
Consulate, constitution of, 50, 

212; for life, 66, 323. 
Consuls, order of, 66D, 326. 
Continental system, 77, 3S3- 

397. 
Convention. 
Declaration of, assistance to 
foreign peoples, 28A, 130; 
on constitution, 27A, 128; 
religious policy, 29A, 134; 
war against Great Britain, 
31, 14S. 
Decrees, laws and acts, 
abolishing monarchy, 27C, 
129; assignats, 47, 205; cal- 
endar, 44, 191; Committees, 
Public Safety, 35, 159, 
Revolutionary, 33, 158; 
dating documents, 27D, 
129; deputies on mission, 
37, 164; education, 38, 167- 
169; Emigres, 30B, 147; en- 
forcement of laws, 27B, 
129; Government of Ter- 
ror, 45, 194; Government, 
Revolutionary, 43, 189; levy 
en masse, of, 40, 184; 
maximum, of, 42, 187; 
non-intervention, 28C, 133; 
priests and religion, 29B-I, 
134-145; proclaiming liber- 
ty, 28B, 130; suspects, of, 
41, 185; tribunal. Revolu- 
tionary, 32A, 152 and 32B, 
154; unity of Republic, 
27E, 129. 
Election of, 25, 125. 

and Education, 38, 167. 
and Foreign Policy, 28, 
129. 

and Religion, 29, 134. 
Conventions, Dardanelles, 115 
B, 565; Erfurt, 82, 421: of 
Fontainebleau, 81 A, 41S; 
with Charles IV, 81 B, 419; 
with Genoa, 54, 259; with 



Prussia, 48B, 208. (See also 

Treaties.) 
Crisis of the 16th of May, 134, 

640-650. 
Coup d'fitat of December 2, 

1851, 111, 538-543. 



Dardanelles convention, 115B, 
56'5. 

Debates, publication of, 117 
B, 577. 

De Broglie, interpellation, 129 
A, 622. 

Declarations, for assistance 
and fraternity to foreign 
peoples, 28A, 130; of Cham- 
ber of Deputies, 104H, 505; 
of confederated states, 78C, 
401; of Frankfort, 87, 435; 
of intentions of King, 3B, 5; 
of King, June 20, 1791, 12A, 
45; of King upon states-gen- 
eral, 3A, 3; of Paris com- 
mune, 126, 60S; of Pilnitz, 
14, 57; of powers against Na- 
poleon, 96, 468; of regent of 
Fi-ance, 30A, 145; of rights 
of man and citizen, 5, 15: 
of rights, Robespierre's pro- 
posed. 36, 160; of St. Ouen, 
92, 455; of the Tribunate, 66 
A, 323; of war against Aus- 
tria, 19, 103; of war against 
Great Britain, 31, 148; of 
1682, 64C, 304; relative; to 
workingmen, 107B, 515; re- 
specting maritime power, 
115C, 566; Target, the. 129D, 
627; upon the constitution, 
27A, 128; upon the Republic, 
109, 522; upon the reorgani- 
zation of German>-, 69, 339. 

Decrees, address to throne, 
upon, 117A, 575; Assembly 
(June 23, 1789), 3C, 10; As- 
sembly convoking, extraor- 
dinary, 95, 467; Assembly, 
upon measures of. 12D, 53; 
Assembly, National, (June 
17, 1789). 1, 1; Assembly, Na- 



686 



INDEX 



tional (Mar. 5, 1848), 107H, 
519; Assembly, National 
(Dec. 2, 1851), 111A, 538; as- 
signats, 47, 205; Bonaparte, 
Joseph, King of Naples, 75B, 
379; Berlin, the, 77B, 385; 
Bonaparte, Joseph, King of 
Spain, 81C, 420; Bonaparte, 
Napoleon, deposing, 90C, 
444; Brumaire, the, 57, 268; 
calendar, ' Republican, 44, 
191; church buildings, 29H, 
140; church lands, 6A, 15; 
clergy, civil constitution of, 
6C, 16; clergy, non-juring 
(rejected), 17B, 99; clerical 
oath, 6D, 22; Committee of 
Public Safety, 35, 159; Com- 
mittees, Revolutionary, 33, 
158; Convention, election of, 
25, 125; criminal tribunal, 
extraordinary, 32A, 152; de- 
partments and districts, 7B, 
29; deputies on mission, 37, 
164; documents, dating of, 
27D, 129; documents, papal, 
6E, 23; education, primary, 
38A, 168; education, second- 
ary, 38B, 168; Emigres, 
against, 30B, 147; fimigres 
(rejected), 17A, 97; Federes, 
camp of, 20C, 106; fourth of 
August, 4, 11; Government 
of the Terror, organic, 45, 
194; Government, Revolu- 
tionary, 43, 189; Imperial 
University, 65C, 314; inter- 
pellation, 117D, 578; judicial 
system, 9, 34; King's body 
guard, 20B, 106; King, con- 
cerning (June 24, 1791), 
121, 53. (July 16, 1791). 12K, 
54; labor, 107G, 518; laws, 
enforcement of, 27B, 129; 
Legislative Body and Sen- 
ate, 122D, 596; levy en 
masse, 40, 184; liberty, 
proclaiming, 28B, 130; 
Louis XVI, suspension of, 
24, 123; Milan, the, 77E, 392; 
monarchy, abolishing, 27C, 



129; monastic vows, 6B, 16; 
municipalities, 7A, 24; Na- 
poleon, deposing. 90C, 444; 
nobility, abolishing, 8, 33; 
nobility, titles of, 107P, 518; 
Nov. 24, 186'0, 117A, 575; 
non-intervention, 28C, 133; 
oath of allegiance, 12G, 52; 
offenders, political and 
press, 122D, 596; papal 
states, 84A, 425; plebiscite, 
first, (Dec. '2, 1851), 111D, 
541, second, (Dec. 4, 1851), 
111E, 542; press, 34, 158, 
organic, 113, 549; priests, 
dangerous, 29C, 135; 
priests, deportation of non- 
juring, 20A, 104; priests, 
non-juring, 29B, 135; print- 
ing and bookselling, 86, 433; 
public order, 12C, 50; Ram- 
taouillet, 77G, 396; rejected 
decrees, 17, 97-102; religion, 
29G, 139; religion, expendi- 
tures for, 29F, 139; religious 
freedom, 29D, 137; religious 
policy, 29A, 134; Republic 
(Oct. 22, 1808), 83, 424; Re- 
public, unity of, 27E, 129 
slavery (1794), 46, 204 
slavery (1848), 10n, 520 
Thiers, 124A, '604; trades and 
professions, 11, 43; work- 
shops, national, 107D, 517; 
worship of Supreme Being, 
29E, 137. (See also Laws, 
Organic Acts.) 

Departments, laws upon, 7B, 
29; 127B, 613. 

Deputies on mission, 37, 164. 

Diet, Napoleon to the, 78B, 
399. 

Dissolution of 1830, 103, 491- 
495. 

Dissolution of Holy Roman 
Empire, 78, -397-404. 

Documents, dating of public, 
27D, 129. 

Education, Convention and, 38, 
167-170; Napoleon and, 65, 



INDEX 



687 



308-323; organic act upon, 
38C, 170; primary, 38A, 16^^, 
secondary, 3SB, 168. 

Election appeal, 111F, 542. 

Election law of 1830, 1U6, 513.* 

ifimigres, 17A, 97; 30, 145-148. 

Ems despatch. 121, 592. 

Encyclical, papal, 136, 654, 
138B, 670, E, 680. 

Erfurt convention, 82, 421. 

Ernoul, order of the day, 129C, 
626. 

Evolution of the Second Em- 
pire, 114, 554-561; of the 
Liberal Empire, 117, 575-581. 

Executive power, decrees and 
laws upon, 124, 603-607. 

Expenditures, upon religion, 
29F, 139. 



Federes, address of, 22B, 113; 

-camp of, 20c, 106. 
First Consul, message, 66C, 

325. 
Fontainehleau, convention of, 

81 A, 41S; treaty of, 90G, 

450. 
Foreign courts, Circular to, 

10, 39. 
Foreign policy. Convention 

and, 28, 129-134. 
Fourth of August, Decrees, 4, 

11-14. 
Fourth of September, 122, 594. 
Francis II, abdication, 78D, 

403. 
Franco-Prussian war, 123, 590. 
Frankfort declaration, 87, 435. 
Fraternity, declaration for, 

28A, 130. 



G:ambetta, circular, 134F, 646. 

Genoa, 54, 259. 

Germany, Confederation of the 
Rhine, 78, 397; reorganiza- 
tion, 69, 339; Germany, 
North, annexation of, 84D, 
429. 



Government, national defence, 
122, 594; proposals, 129B, 
623; provisional of 1S4S, 107, 
514-521; Revolutionary, 43, 
189; scat of, 133D, 639; Ter- 
ror, 45, 194; Thiers, 124, 604 
and 129, 622-627. 
Great Britain. 
Declaration of war against, 

31, 14S. 
Law upon its products, 53, 

258. 
Treaties, alliance against 
Fi-ance, 100, 482; Amiens, 
63, 294; Chaumont, 89, 439; 
note to powers, 77A, 384; 
orders in council, 77C, 3'87, 
77D, 388, and 77F, 394, 
with Russia, 73, 371. 



Hague, treaty, 49, 209. 
Plolland. 

Annexation, 84D, 429. 
Treaties, Hague, 49, 209; 
with France, 76, 381; with 
France (1810), 84C, 427. 
Hostages, law, 56, 267. 
Hostilities, suspension of, 52A, 



Interpellation, De Broglie, 

129A, 622; Imperial decree, 

upon, 117E, 578. 
Italy, constitutional statute, 

72A. 368; kingdom. 72, 368; 

war of 1859, 116, 567-575. 



Jacobin club, address of, 26, 
127. 

Judicial system, 9, 34; 61, 288. 

July, monarchy, 107A, 514; 
ordinances, 104A. 495; revo- 
lution, 104, 495-506. 



Keeper of the seals, circular, 
102, 489. 



INDEX 



King, accepts constitution, 16, 

■ 96; toody guard of. 20, lOG; 

' declaration of, 3A, 3 and 

. 12A, 45; decree for arrest, 

12B, 50, concerning tliglrt of, 

12, 44-55; intentions of, 3B, 

5; proclamation of, 103D, 

494; response to deputies, 

103C, 493; speecli of, 103A, 

491; suspension of, (Louis 

XVI), 24, 123. 

King of Prussia, letter to, 18, 

102. 
Kings flight, 12, 45-55. 



Labor, decree, 107G, 51 S. 

Laboulaye, proposed amend- 
ment, 132C, 633. 

Laws, administrative system, 
reorganization of, 60, 2S3; 
army, for reorganizing, 128, 
618; associations, of, 137, 
G'59; Britisli products, upon, 
53, 258; - communal, 127A, 
612; constitutional of 1S75, 
133, 633-637, upon Senate, 
133A, 633, upon organization 
of public powers, 133B, 635, 
upon relation of public pow- 
ers, 133C, -637; departmental, 
127B, 613; elections, upon, 
1C6, 513; hostages, of, 56, 
267; judicial system, reor- 
ganization of, 61, 288; Le- 
gion of Honor, for organiz- 
ing, 67, 336; maximum, of, 
42, 187; 22 Prairial, of, 32B, 
154; presidency, upon the, 
124C, 606; press, (1819), 
,' 101A, 485, (1820,) 101B, 486; 
(1S22), 101C, 488; public ene- 
. mies, against, 51, 254; pub- 
: lie exercise of religious wor- 
--ship, 138D, 678; public in- 
struction, upon, 65A, 30S; 
■public meetings, upon, 119, 
589; Rivet, the, -124B, 604; 
Septennate, of the.. 131, 630; 
slavery in colonies, upon, 68, 
338; suspects, of, 41, 185. 



(See also Decrees, Organic 
Acts.) 

Laws, enforcement of, 27B, 
129. 

Left, manifesto of the ex- 
treme, 129E, 627. 

Legion of Honor, law, 67, 336. 

Legislative Body, address to 
Napoleon, 88, 437. 

Leo XIII and Third Republic, 
136, 654-669. 

Letters, Louis XVI to foreign 
courts, 10, 39; Louis XVI to 
King of Prussia, 18, 102; 
MacMahon to Simon, 134A, 
640; Simon to MacMahon, 
134B, 641; White Flag, the, 
130, 627. 

Levy en masse, 40, 184. 

Liberal Empire, evolution of, 
117, 575-586. 

Liberty and sovereignty, 28B, 
130. 

Local government, 7, 24-33; 
127, 612-618. 

Louis Napoleon, speech, 114A, 
554. 

Louis Philippe, proclamation, 

104F, 50 S.- 
Louis XVI, acceptance of con- 
stitution, 16, 96; body guard 
of, 20B, 106; circular letter, 
10, 39; declaration upon in- 
tentions, 'SB, 5; declaration 
upon states-general, 3A, 3; 
letter to King of Prussia, 
18, 102; suspension of, 24, 
123; flight of, 12, 45-55. 

Lune-\'ille, treaty. 62, 290. 

Luxembourg commission, 107 
E, 517. 



MacMahon, letter, to Simon, 
134A, 640; manifestoes, 134E, 
644 and 184G, 64'S; message, 
134H, 649; Simon's letter to, 
134B, 641. 

Manifestoes, Duke of Bruns- 
wick's, 23, 118; extreme 
Left, 129E, 627; MacMahon's 






INDEX 



to French people (Sept. 19, 
1S77), 134E, 644; MacMahon's 
second (Oct. 11, 1877), 134G, 
648; Thiers' Orleanist, 104D, 
&02. 

Marseilles, commune of, 22A, 
111. 

Maximum, law, 42, 1S7. 

Messages, First Consul to 
Senate, 66C, 325; of Mac- 
Mahon, 134H, 649. (See also 
Speech, Address.) 

Milan, decree, 77B, 392; proc- 
lamation, 116D, 571. 

Monarchy, decree abolishing',' 
27C, 129; overthrow of Span- 
ish, 81, 418. 

Monastic vows, 6B, 16. 

Municipalities, 7A, 24; 127A, 
612. 



Naples, Joseph Bonaparte, 
King of, 75B, 379; kingdom 
of, 75, 378. 
Napoleon I, abdications, 90D, 
446 and 90F. 450; address of 
Legislative Body to, 88, 437; 
alliance against, 97, 469; 
Consul for life, 66, 323; dec- 
laration against, 96, 468; de- 
position, 90C, 444; education, 
and, 65, 3-08; Emperor, 71, 
343; King of Italy, 72, 368; 
note to Diet, 78B, 399; proc- 
lamations, 75A, 378 and 94, 
465; reorganization of reli- 
gion, 64, 296. 
Napoleon III, proclamations, 

116C, 568 and 116D, 571. 
National Assembly. 
1789, 1, 1. 
1848, 107H, 519. 
1851, decree for dissolving 

the, 111A, 538. 
1871-1875, decrees and laws: 
of the Septennate, 131, 
630; upon executive power, 
124, 604-607; upon reorgan- 
ization of army, 128, 618; 
upon reorganization of lo- 



B 



cal government, 127, 612- 
61S. 
National workshops, 107D, 517. 
Newspapers, 59, 281. (See al- 
so Press.) 
Nobility, 8, 33; 107F, '518. 
Non-intervention, decree upon, 

28C, 133. 
Non-juring clergy. See Cler- 
gy- 
Notes, Austrian ultimatum, 
116A, 567; British note to 
neutral powers, 77A, 384; 
Napoleon to Diet, 78B, 399; 
reply to Sardinia, 116B, 569. 



Oath, allegiance, decree, 12G, 
52; clerical, decree upon, 6D, 
22; Tennis Court, 2, 2. 
Offenders, political and press, 

122D, 596. 
Orders, for Luxembourg com- 
mission, 107E, 517; of the 
consuls, 66D, 326; suppress- 
ing newspapers, 59, 281. 
Orders of the day, 134C, 642; 

Ernoul, 129C, 626. 
Oiders in council, British 
(Jan. 10, 1807), 77C, 387; 
British, (Nov. 11, 1807), 77D, 
3S8; Baitish (Apr. 26, 1809), 
77F, 394. 
Ordinances, July, the, 104A, 
495; royal, upon the press, 
101D, 489. 
Organic acts and laws. 

Acts upon education, 38C. 
170; upon religion. 291, 
140. 
Articles, Catholic church, 
64B, 299; Protestant sects, 
64D, 306. 
Decree. Government of Ter- 
ror. 45, 194; press, 113, 549. 
Senatus-consultum, for an- 
nexation of papal states, 
84B. 426; for annexation 
of Holland and North Ger- 
m,nny, 84D, 429. (See also 
Laws, Decrees.) 



690 



INDEX 



Orleanist, manifesto, Theirs', 
104D, 502. 



Padua, circular, 13, 54. 

Papacy. 

Brief to French cardinals, 
136B, 654; publication of 
papal documents, 6E, 23. 
(See also Pope, Church 
and State, Leo XIII, and 
Pius X.) 

Papal documents. (See Pa- 
pacy.) 

Papal states, annexation, 84A, 
425; 84B, 426. 

Paris. 

Declaration of, 115C, 566. 
Congress of, 115, 562-567. 
Deputies, protest of, 104C, 

501. 
Journalists, protest of, 104B, 

501. 
Proclamation to, 122B, 595. 
Sections, address of, 22C, 

114. 
Treaties, 1S14. 91, 451; ISlo, 
99, 480; 1856, 115A, 562. 

Persigny, circular, 118, 586. 

Petitions, 20th of June (1792), 
21, 107; 16th of April (1848), 
108, 521; of the twenty-three, 
138C, 676. 

Pilnitz, 14, 57. 

Pius X, encyclicals, 138B, 670, 
and B, 680. 

Plebiscite, first decree for, 
111D, 541; second decree for, 
111E, 642. 

Pope, treaties with, 52, 255- 
258. (See also Papacy.) 

Powers, British note to neu- 
tral, 77A, 384. 

Prairial, law of 22,32B, 154. 

Presidency law, 124C, 606. 

Press, decree upon, 34, 158; de- 
cree upon printing and book- 
selling, 86, 433; laws of the 
Restoration, 101, 485-489; of- 
fenders, political and, 122D, 
596; organic decree upon, 



113, 549; protest of Paris 
journalists (July 26, 1830), 
104B, 501; royal ordinance 
upon, 101D, 489; suppression 
of, 59, 281. (See also News- 
papers.) 

Pressburg, treaty, 74, 374. 

Priests. See Clergy. 

Prince-President to Chambers, 
speech of, 114A, 554. 

Printing, 86, 433. 

Proclamations, for Luxem- 
bourg commission, 107E, 517; 
of allies, 90A, 443; to army, 
75A, 378; of deputies, 104E, 
502; of King, 103D, 494; of 
kindom of Italy, 72B, 369; of 
liberty and sovereignty, 28B, 
130; of Louis Philippe, 104F, 
503: of Napoleon, 94, 465; of- 
Napoleon III, 116C, 569 
and 116D, 570; of the Re- 
public, 107C, 516; overthrow 
of July monarchy, 107A, 514; 
to army, 111C, 540; to French 
people (1870), 122A, 594; to 
Italians, 116D, 571; to Pari- 
sians, 112B, 595; to people 
(1851), 111B, 538. 

Programs, socialist, 135, 650- 
654. 

Projects and proposals, Bene- 
detti treaty, 120, 591, Casi- 
mir-Perier, the, 132A, 631; 
Gbvernment, the, 129B, 622; 
Laboulaye amendment, 132C, 
632; Robespierre's declara- 
tion of rights, 36, 160; Sen- 
ate's constitution, 90E, 446; 
Ventavon, the, 132B, 632. 

Proposals, government, 129B, 
622. 

Protest of the Right, 12J, 54, 

Protestant sects, organic ar- 
ticles for, 64D, 306. 

Protests, of Paris deputies, 
104C, .501; of Paris journal- 
ists, 104B, 501; of the Right, 
12 J, 54. 

I'russia. 

Diplomatic circulars, 123B, 
599, 123C, 603. 



INDEX 



Treaties, alliance against 
. France, 100, 482; Basle, 
48A, 206; Congress of Par- 
is, 115, 506; preliminary, of 
Versailles, 125, 607; pio- 
posed Benedetti, the, 120, 
591; secret convention, 
48B, 208; with France 
(1S07), 79C, 410; with 
France (1808), 79D, 41-4. 
Public documents, dating of, 

27D, 129. 
Public enemies, law, 51, 254. 
Public meetings, law, 119, 589. 
Public order, 12C, 50. 
Public powers, constitutional 
laws on, 133B, 635; 133C, 6-37. 
Public Safety, Committee of, 

35, 159. 
Publication of debates, 117B, 
577. 



Ramfcouillet, decree, 77G, 396. 

Re-election of Consul ty Sen- 
ate, 65B, 324. 

Regent of France, declaration 
of, 30A, 145. 

Rejected decrees, the, 17, 97- 
102. 

Religion, Coiivention and, 29, 
134-145; organic act upon, 
291, 140. 

Religious freedom, 29D, 137. 

Religious policy, decree upon, 
29A, 134. 

Reorganization, of administra- 
tive system, 60, 283; of army, 
128,. 618; of GermanJ^ 69, 339; 
of judicial system, 9, 34 and 
61, 288; of local government, 
7, 24-33 and 127, 612-618; of 
religion, 64, 296. 

Replies and responses, of 
Chamber of Deputies, 103B, 
492; to King's acceptance of 
constitution, 16; 96. 

Republic. 

The first, transition to. 27, 
128-129; unity and indivis- 
ibility of, 27E, 129. 



The second, constitution of, 
110, 522; declaration upon, 
109, 522; proclamation of, 
107C, 516.' 
The third, constitutional laws 
and amendments of, 133, 
633-640; establishment of, 
132, 631-633; relations with- 
papacy, 156, 654. 
Term, use of, 83, 424. 
Republican calendar, 44, 191. 
Restoration monarchy; transi- 
tion to, 90, 443-451; press 
laws and ordinances of, 101, 
485-489. 
Revolution, July, 104, 495-506. 
Revolutionary committees, 33, 

158. 
Revolutionary decrees, the 

three, 20, 104-107. 
Revolutionary government, 43, 

189. 
Revolutionary tribunal, 32, 152. 
Rhine, confederation of. See 

Confederation of the Rhine. 
■Rights of man and citizen, 

declaration of, 5, 15. 
Rivet law, 124B, 604.- 
Robespierre's proposed declar- 
ation of rights, 36, 160. 
Royal session of June 23, 1789, 

3, 3-11. 
Russia. 
Treaties and conventions, al- 
liance against France, 10O, 
482; alliance against Na- 
poleon, 97, 469; alliance 
with Great Britain, 73, 371; 
Chaumont, 89, 439; Con- 
gress of Paris, 115, 562; Er- 
furt convention, 82, 421; 
Paris (1814), 91, 451; Paris 
(1815), 99, 480; with France 
(1807), 79A, 405; with 
France (secret, 1807), 79B, 
408. 



St. Ouen, declaration, 92, 455. 
Sardinia, reply to Austria, 
116B, 569. 



692 



INDEX 



Senatus-consultum. 

Budget, upon (Dec. 31, 1861), 
117C, 577. 

Constitution of Year X 
(1802), 66E, 326. 

Constitution of Year XII 
(1804), 71, 342. 

Debates, upon (Feb. 2, 1861), 
117B, 577. 

Empire, upon (1852), 114D, 
560. 

Of May 21, 1870, 117F, 5&0. 

Of Sept. 8, 1869, 117E, 579. 

Organic, annexing Holland 
and North Germany, 84D, 
429; annexing papal states, 
84B, 426. 

Suppressing Tribunate (1S07), 
£0, 416. 
Senate. 

Consulate and First Empire, 
Act of, 90B, 444; proposed 
constitution, 90E, 446; re- 
election of Napoleon Bona- 
parte, 66B, 324. 

Second Empire, abolished, 
122D, 596. 
Separation, law of, 138A, 663. 
Septennate, law, 131, 630. 
Simon, letter to MacMahon, 

134B, 641. 

Sixteenth of May crisis, 134, 

640-650. 
SlaA'ery, decree upon (1794), 
46, 204; decree upon (1848), 
1071, 520; in colonies, re-es- 
tablished, 68, 33S. 
Socialist programs, 135, 650. 
Sovereignty, liberty and, 28B, 

130. 
Spain. 

Joseph Bonaparte King, 81 C, 

420. 
Treaties and conventions, 
Fontainebleau, 81 A, 418; 
with France (1803), 70, 
341; with France (1808), 
81B, 419. 
Spanish monarchy, overthrow 
of, 81, 418-421. 



Speeches, of King, 103A, 491; 
of Prince-President, ^^\4^, 
'554. (See also Address, Mes- 
sage.) 

States-general, royal session 
. of, 3, 3-11. 

Supreme Being, worship of, 
2GB, 137. 

Suspects, Law of, 41, 185. 



Target, declaration, 129D, 627. 

Tennis Court, 2, 2. 

Thiers, government of, 124, 

604-607; Orleanist manifesto 

of, 104D, 502; overthrow of, 

129, 622. 
Tilsit, treaties, 79, 404-416. 
Tolentino, treaty of, 52B, 256. 
Transition, to the Republic, 27, 

128-129; to the Restoration 

monarchy, 90, 443-451. 
Treaties. 

Alliance against France, 100, 
482. 

Alliance against Napoleon, 
97, 469. 

Amiens, 63, 294. 

Basle, 48A, 206. 

Benedetti, (proposed), 120, 
591. 

Campo Formio, 55, 261. 

Chaumont, 89, 439. 

Establishing Confederation 
of Rhine, 78A, 397. 

Fontainebleau. 96G, 450. 

Great Britain and Russia, 73, 
371. 

Hague, 49, 209. 

Holland, with, 76, 381. 

Holland, with, 84C, 427. 

Luneville, 62, 290. 

Paris (1814), 91, 451. 

Paris (1815), 99, 480. 

Paris (1856), 115A, 562. 

Pope, with the (1796), 52A, 
255-258. 

Pressburg, 74, 374. 

Spain, with, 70, 342. 

Tilsit, 79, 404-416; with Prus- 
sia (1807), 79C, 410; with 



693 



Prussia (ISOS), 79D, 414; 
with Russia, 78A, 405 and 
79B, 408; Turin, 116G, 574; 
Versailles, 125, 607; Vien- 
na, 85, 430; Zurich, 116F, 
573. (Seli also Conven- 
tions.) 

Tribunate, declaration, 66A, 
323; suppression, 80, 416. 

Turin, treaty, 116G, 574. 

Twenty-three, petition of the, 
138C, 676. 



University, Imperial, 65C, 314. 



Varennes. See King's Flight. 
Vedennes, address, 114B, 557. 
Ventavon, project, 132B, 632. 
Versailles, treaty, 125, 607. 
Vienna, treaty, 85, 430. 
Villafranca, armistice, 116E, 
572. 



Wallon, amendment, 132D, 633. 
White Flag letter, 130, 627. 
Workingmen, declaration, 

107B, 516. 
Woikshops, national. 107D, 515. 

Zurich, treaty, 116F, 573. 



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